NineTailed Romance
by Arden Sohrano
Summary: As Naruto and Jiraiya return from their training trip, something unexpected happens,something no one had ever thought possible. Now, they have to live with the consequences, whatever those may be. Post training trip, Naru/fem.Kyuubi AU
1. Chapter 1: Accidents happen

A/N: First of all, this is a naruto x female kyuubi fic, so NO yaoi ("shudders")

I know what you're thinking right now, another project.  
I know, I know, but it's just that I was overwhelmed by a massive horde of plotbunnies.  
I can't really say what kind of influence this story will have on the rest of my projects, but I promise you, they will all continue (no worries).  
As a matter of fact, Death's Dawn chapter 21 is about halfway done at the moment that I'm typing this.

In any case, enjoy, and expect a lot more from this fic in the future.  
(just so you know, it'll be a romantic comedy, so not too many action scenes, though I do have some battles planned. A warning is in order though, as it is very possible that I'll be attempting to write my first lemon in this one, so those of you that don't really like it, too bad)

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**Nine-Tailed Romance**

**Chapter 1**

The sun was standing high in a cloudless blue sky, casting down its rays onto the village hidden in the leaves. Life was going its usual, calm way. Well, as calm as living in a village dedicated to military operations can be. Still, except for the occasional infiltration attempt, kidnapping, stray exploding tag, jutsu gone haywire, invasion and general mayhem (courtesy of the Konohamaru Corps), everything was relatively quiet. This would soon change though.

The reason for this change was currently headed towards Konoha, in the form of two travellers walking side by side along the main road coming out of Fire Country's capital. Nothing but their muffled footsteps and rustle of their clothes broke the quiet between them.

"I am not letting you out of the seal you damned fox", the blonde member of the two suddenly shattered the silence.

"Kyuubi bothering you again kid?", his companion, an aging man with a huge mass of spiky grey hair asked, concern lining his voice.

"Yeah, damn fox won't leave me alone. Can't you use some sort of seal to make the bloody furball shut up or something Ero-Sennin?"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but I already told you that it would be a bad idea. The Fourth's seal is complex enough as it is. I can't even begin to predict the consequences of even altering it in the slightest", Jiraiya replied solemnly, causing Naruto to sigh deeply.

Ever since the battle at the Valley of the End, the Nine-tailed fox had managed to set up some sort of telepathic link into Naruto's mind, enabling it to speak directly to him. The demon had been nagging to be released almost constantly, almost driving Naruto to the brink of insanity at times.

"So what did he propose this time?", Jiraiya asked. It had become somewhat of a standard procedure for Kyuubi to propose something different every time it started nagging again.

"Promised me all you can eat ramen and a few new jutsu", Naruto replied, "Looks like the level of creativity is dropping if the fox is being forced to combine previous offers".

"True, but you have to give him credit though. He's been going at it for how long now?"

"Ero-Sennin, you're getting old. It's been about five years since we left on our trip. Something is seriously wrong with you if you're starting to forget things like that".

"Hey, can you blame me? I'm an old geezer of over fifty already. Combine that with the whole Akatsuki mess and you should understand why I'm starting to forget certain things".

The man did have a point though. The training trip, which had been planned to last for about two and a half years, had doubled in length when they had received word from Tsunade that Sasuke had returned to the village on his own, though the exact reasons remained unknown to the pair. This however had the benefit that they could extend the trip and thus prepare Naruto better for the inevitable confrontation with Akatsuki. It had been horrible when Naruto had received news that Akatsuki had attacked the Sand and taken Gaara. He'd gone on a rampage and it took every ounce of Jiraiya's strength to keep him from running all the way to Suna. Thankfully, a messenger bird came a few days later, stating that while Shukaku had been extracted, Gaara was fine, thanks to the selfless sacrifice of an old woman named Chiyo.

As time progressed, news of other Jinchuuriki falling to Akatsuki filtered through Jiraiya's network of spies and he stepped up Naruto's training schedule. The results were quite satisfying. Naruto was now able to use one handed rasengan and had even managed to advance to the next level with them, adding a wind element to the technique. Furthermore he had managed to master practically all of Jiraiya's entire jutsu collection.

Even so, a confrontation with Akatsuki would likely take everything both he and Jiraiya had.

"Remember Naruto, when we enter Konoha you can't let anyone know that you can communicate directly with the Kyuubi", Jiraiya said sternly, looking his semi-grandson straight in the eyes.

"Yeah I know, because if they find out they'll hate me even more than they do now", Naruto replied. They'd been over that so many times that it irritated him to no end, especially because it felt quite good to yell out loud at something the fox said.

"I see you still need some work on that. Thankfully we still have a few days before we reach the village, so try and learn to stay quiet before we do".

Naruto nodded before starting to mutter curses under his breath, sounding more like an indignant bullfrog than anything else. Jiraiya had no doubt the curses were aimed straight at Kyuubi. Even if it was a maliciously evil demon fox, some of the bribes had actually sounded good to Jiraiya. The massive harem for example sounded very good to him and he actually had to resist altering the seal for a moment, though reason soon won over his more perverted side. Of course, the ramen and jutsu would probably have more of an effect on Naruto.

It wasn't like Jiraiya hadn't tried to get Naruto hooked up to a few girls here and there, but it seemed useless. Even if the boy had grown to become a veritable babe magnet, few girls wanted to start something with a shinobi, even more so a foreign one. The few girls that did approach him were scared off by his unusual hyperactiveness or one of his sudden outbursts against Kyuubi. Given the fact that he couldn't exactly say why he had those fits, there was no hope in recovering anything that might have bloomed. As Kyuubi was driving Naruto to the brink of insanity at times, Naruto himself was driving the old hermit to insanity because of his lack of female companionship. He was in desperate need for some new inspiration for his literature. He only hoped that their return to Konoha would bring some excitement, especially if the Hyuuga heir still had a crush on the blonde. He couldn't wait for the possible sleaze he could find there.

"Ero-Sennin, can we stop here for the night?", Naruto suddenly spoke up.

"Sure, but why? It's still a bit early".

"I know, but I want to go and visit the fox so that I can teach him a lesson", came the reply.

Jiraiya sighed and pointed out a small clearing at the side of the road, indicating their place to sleep for the night.

"I'll just leave you to it while I go and find us some dinner", the toad hermit smiled as Naruto set down his backpack and started setting up the tent.

Jiraiya had been gone for a few minutes when the blonde shinobi finished his work on the campsite and sat down in lotus position and started meditating. It didn't take him long to move to the place he had dubbed 'the cage' and stood in front of the massive barred gates kept together by a thin slip of paper with the symbol for seal on it. It seemed ironic actually, that a single slip of paper was actually holding the most powerful demon of all at bay. One thin fragile looking piece of paper.

"Oh, so you decided to pay me a visit again?", a deep voice rumbled out of the darkness just before two glowing red eyes opened, staring straight at Naruto.

"Yeah I decided to do that, so I could make you shut up. It's getting really annoying Kyuubi, to hear you yammering on and on about wanting to be released from the seal. It's not going to happen, you hear me?"

"Well I certainly noticed that earthly riches can't exactly persuade you to tear that seal apart", the fox grumbled in reply, "but then again, nothing stops me from driving you insane with some non-stop whining".

"That's the reason I'm here".

"What, you want me to start singing while whining?".

"No you idiot fox, I want you to stop doing it, altogether".

"Then make me", Kyuubi grinned, revealing a set of massive teeth that glimmered in the faint light.

Grumbling, Naruto stepped right up to the steel bars and glared into Kyuubi's massive eyes, completely unafraid. He knew that nothing would happen to him as long as that slip of paper stayed in place.

It wasn't until he felt something hit him in the back of his head that he finally noticed that there was something wrong. He blacked out for a moment but awoke just as his head collided with the cold steel of the cage. A tearing sound snapped him back to attention and he placed his hands beneath him just in time to prevent himself from falling face first into the water covering the floor in his mind. A fluttering piece of white paper drew his attention and he snatched it out of the air. Quickly scanning it, he recognised it almost instantly. He looked up and saw what happened.

Only one thought ran through his head at that exact moment.

"Crap".

Right after that, he was blinded by a flash of light, right before everything turned dark.

After what seemed like an hour of floating in the darkness, Naruto felt himself gaining consciousness again. He groggily opened his eyes and tried to sit upright only to feel an agonising jolt of pain shoot through his stomach. The earlier events rushed back to him at that moment, causing terror to grip his heart as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the difference in brightness. As soon as it didn't hurt to open them anymore, he took a careful look at his environment and was shocked to find that nothing had changed.

"Ok, I don't think I dreamed that, but if it's reality, then where is the giant demon fox standing by to eat me, why isn't everything surrounding me destroyed?"

"I think I can answer that", a voice called out from behind him.

Naruto froze. Reason dictated that except for himself, the only one that could possibly be there was either Ero-Sennin or the Kyuubi. The problem was, neither of those had a voice even remotely like this one. First of all, it seemed almost angelic. Ringing through the campsite as clear as a bell. Second, it was the wrong gender. He whipped around to look at the owner of the voice and froze. Standing only a meter or two behind him was a beautiful girl, butt naked. His mind shut down for a moment as his eyes took in every curve and burned them into his memories, at least until he noticed that the girl in question had a few extra 'appendages' that were missing on normal humans. For instance, no human had fox ears on top of their heads and no one had nine fox tails swinging gently behind them. He looked up at her face, instantly recognising the slitted blood red eyes glimmering above a grin, accented by sharp fangs.

"Kyuubi", Naruto breathed.

"Oh, right in one", the girl said, playfully twisting a few strands of her waist long red hair around her fingers.

"But, but, ..."

"What, you weren't expecting me to look like this?", she interrupted the stammering shinobi.

"You're female??"

"What does it look like to you? You got a good eyeful a moment ago so you tell me".

Naruto blushed crimson at this. It was true though, but it was also virtually impossible to keep his eyes off her. She was without a doubt absolutely gorgeous.

"But I always thought".

"Let me guess", she interrupted him again, "you thought I was male. Why is it that all males think that someone with great power is also male. So narrow-minded".

She huffed at this and looked at Naruto again.

"So how long are you going to let me stand here and parade in front of you? It's freezing you know, and I don't exactly have a lot of fur to keep me warm in this form".

With another deep blush, the blonde quickly grabbed some of his clothes and threw them towards Kyuubi before turning around to give her some privacy. Things were absolutely not as he expected them to be.

"Alright, I'm decent", she announced and Naruto turned back towards her, eager to ask her some questions.

"Ok, before you go and do anything, I've got a few questions", he announced, only to have Kyuubi look sheepishly at him.

"Oh God, she already did something", he thought before voicing his concern, "Ok, what did you do?".

"Ask your questions first, I'll tell you what I did after that".

He grumbled again but decided to go along with her plan, for the moment.

"Ok then, first of all, how did you get out?"

"Isn't that obvious? I lured you near the cage and then used one of my tails to smack you into the seal, tearing it loose in the process".

"Oh, right, that is what happened".

"Not exactly one of your greatest moments right?"

"Shut up you damn fox. Second question, why are you still here, sitting still and talking to me".

"What else would I do?"

"Errr, destroy the world?"

"Been there, done that, no fun anymore".

"Then what are you planning to do now that you're free?"

"I thought it was obvious, stay with you of course".

Her answer stunned Naruto. He had been expecting her to tear him to pieces or do something horribly painful to him before unleashing her power onto the world again, but here she was, sitting in front of him, doing nothing. Well, almost nothing, but wagging your tails couldn't exactly be called threatening".

"But why?"

"Well, I'm the only one of my kind, so it gets kind of lonely after a while. And while I was sealed inside of you, I guess I fell in love with you, especially when you grew up".

"Ok, something here is not right", Naruto thought out loud before bringing his hands together, gathering his chakra and shouting, "Kai". Nothing changed though, confusing him even further.

Kyuubi simply raised an eyebrow as she watched the blonde's antics. She had been expecting some sort of reaction, but not really like this.

"Ok, Ero-Sennin, come out, this joke has gone on long enough", Naruto finally shouted.

"What joke kid?", Jiraiya's voice came out of the bushes just before the hermit emerged with a couple of rabbits held in his hands. The old man stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted the red headed beauty sitting opposite of Naruto, dressed in the clothes of said shinobi.

Before Jiraiya could notice, Kyuubi hid her tails behind her back and pushed her ears as flat against her head as she could, causing them to blend in quite well with her red hair.

"Ok, what has been going on kid, who is this girl you're with".

"You honestly didn't play a joke Ero-Sennin?", Naruto asked him again.

"Nope, I just went to grab some rabbits in the woods, what else would I be doing? There isn't a place for research for miles", he said seriously, starting to wonder about what exactly was going on, and where that girl came from.

"So you finally believe me Naru-kun?", Kyuubi smiled mischievously.

"I guess", he sighed, dropping his head in the process, "but you promise that you're serious about what you said right?".

He looked up to see her nod vigorously and decided to take her word for it. After all, she hadn't done anything threatening, yet.

"So who is she kid?", Jiraiya asked, not exactly trusting the girl. Something seemed off about her.

"Please don't overreact Ero-Sennin, but the girl you're looking at is actually the Kyuubi".

Jiraiya froze, the rabbits slipping out of his hand and dropping onto the grass with a muffled plop. It took five seconds for him to close his mouth and drop into a fighting stance, kunai in hand.

"Naruto, move away from her", he shouted, killing intent radiating off him.

It didn't last long though. In a flash, Kyuubi had shot upright, disarmed the toad sage and pinned him against a tree on the opposite side of the road. This time, it was her killing intent that permeated the area, causing the wildlife to flee and goosebumps to start forming on the skin of the two shinobi present.

"Kyuubi, let him go", Naruto shouted as he palmed a kunai himself.

"Don't worry Naru-kun, I won't hurt him", she smiled at the object of her affection before turning back towards the old man hanging helplessly in her grip.

"Listen you perverted old man. Since my Naru-chan considers you as one of his precious people, I'll be nice and give you a warning. If you ever get between us again, I'll castrate you in the most inhumanly painful way possible, and trust me, I've done it before. Oh, and just so you know, the same happens if you dare to peek at naked women again", the fox girl finished with a growl as she loosened her grip, letting Jiraiya go. She turned her back at him, tails waving from side to side as she calmly walked back towards Naruto.

"In return", she spoke up as she gestured towards him to put away the kunai and sit down, "I'll behave nicely and won't do anything unless Naru-kun here tells me I can".

She plopped down beside him and threw her arms around Naruto, before giving him a loving kiss on his cheek.

Jiraiya was still looking flabbergasted at the scene unfolding before him until her words finally permeated his thick skull and he regained some control over his thoughts.

"But how, why?", he exclaimed, still not believing Kyuubi.

"I already told Naru-kun and I'm not in the mood to go through it again, so I'll summarize it for you. Yes, I'm female. Yes, I'm in love with Naru-kun here, and yes, I'll behave. Do you understand or must I spell it out for you?"

Jiraiya simply nodded, but froze again as a small spike of killing intent again rose off of the red headed fury.

"And just so you know, I won't allow anyone to get in between us, understood?".

Meanwhile, Naruto was still sitting there in Kyuubi's embrace. Part of him was terrified, but another part of him was enjoying itself way too much. Sadly enough, the second part was winning. There was something about her that simply made his heart beat faster. This realisation however reminded him of the thing she admitted she had done before he had woken up.

"Say, Kyuubi", he said, looking at Kyuubi as he did, which proved to be a massive mistake. His heart skipped a few beats before nearly bursting out of his chest. Up close like this, she was even more beautiful than he could've ever imagined. Still, with considerable effort, he managed to ask his question, "what exactly was it that you did to me while I was unconscious?"

Kyuubi grinned mischievously at this. Without warning she ripped off Naruto's shirt and touched a spot between his neck and shoulder, almost the same spot where Sasuke's curse seal was.

"This was what I did".

Naruto looked at the spot she indicated and did a double-take. Right where she was pointing was a seal, about 5 centimetres in diameter, in the shape of a small fox sitting upright, surrounded by grass. A closer look revealed that the lines that made up the seal were actually composed of incredibly small writing, indicating the high level of the seal.

"What the hell is that?", he screamed as he jumped upright and started running circles around the clearing, trying furiously to wipe off the seal.

"It's a seal designed myself", she replied calmly, grabbing Naruto by the scruff of his neck and pulling him back into her embrace, "It's made so that no woman besides myself will ever have an effect on you. Of course, I have a version of the seal on myself so no one but you can have the same effect on me".

"Why did you do this?".

"Quite simple actually, it makes sure that neither of us is disloyal to the other, and it allows you to live forever. For as long as one of us lives, the other stays alive as well. Isn't that nice? Oh, and the seal can't be removed, modified or sealed over so don't even bother trying".

Naruto looked at Jiraiya, almost pleading him to try. The old man simply shook his head in response.

"I can see it from here kid, and I can tell with a glance that it does exactly what she said it would do. I really pity you, being bound to one woman for the rest of your life and unable to explore the world like I did".

"As if I would want to follow in your footsteps Ero-Sennin, I'd be happy to stay with her for the rest of my life", Naruto shouted angrily, realising too late exactly what he had said. This of course made Kyuubi so happy that she glomped Naruto mere milliseconds after the words had left his mouth, knocking him onto the ground. Her close presence however, combined with the fact that he could clearly feel that she wasn't wearing underwear (you can't exactly expect a pretty girl like herself to wear a male's underwear right), caused the seal to go in overdrive. Naruto felt dizzy as hormones raged through his system and he had to resist with all his might to stop himself from kissing the girl currently lying on top of him. She however, had some different ideas. Thankfully, Jiraiya tried to intervene before she could do anything, though an angry snarl coming Kyuubi stopped him dead in his tracks. This momentary pause gave Naruto the time he needed though, and he gently put his arms between them.

"Perhaps it's best we take this slowly, right Kyuu-chan?", he smiled at her. His mind however was having the exact same thoughts as Jiraiya's at that time.

"Where the hell did that Kyuu-chan come from?"

Kyuubi sighed as she sat upright again.

"I guess you're right Naru-kun. Even though we've known each other for your entire life, I'll admit we didn't really got off on the right foot. Not to mention the fact that you didn't expect me to be a female until a little while ago".

As Jiraiya watched Kyuubi calm down, he slowly started to move again before suggesting they go to sleep. The new 'couple' agreed, they both had to admit that it had been a rough evening, even for Kyuubi. Escaping from a high level seal really did a number on you, especially if you've been sitting still for the past eighteen years.

They cooked the rabbits caught by Jiraiya in silence, Naruto sharing half of his with Kyuubi who readily devoured the meat.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you Naru-kun", she spoke up as soon as they all finished eating, "the seal won't allow us to be apart for long periods of time, and it also limits the distance we can move from each other".

"What do you mean Kyuu-chan?"

"I mean that if you ever get separated from me for longer than a day or two, or if you go more than a mile away from me, we'll both begin to feel some side-effects. So it's best that you stay with me all the time".

Naruto sighed, but nodded. It wasn't that he really minded that part of the seal, it was just that it was that extra bit of information that he was being forced to account for in any plans he would make in the future. It was all just so much to take in. He was shaken from his thoughts though when he felt Kyuubi tugging on his arm. It took him a while to realise that she was slowly pulling him towards the tent, indicating that they should go to sleep.

"Hey, what about me?", Jiraiya whined as he noticed Kyuubi's intentions.

"You can sleep outside", she grinned at him, "you're a hermit right, you should be used to this kind of thing".

"But...", he didn't get any further though. A quick glare coming from Kyuubi's direction was more than enough to silence any and all protests. Muttering to himself the he sat down and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible against the trunk of a tree. Though he did keep his notebook close at hand, just in case something interesting would be happening during the night.

"At least now I understand about the whining from before, she's a female so it's natural", he muttered as he leaned back, ignoring the irregular bark pressing into his back. A kunai flying out of the tent made him move though.

"I heard that you old pervert", an angry voice growled from the tent as the kunai embedded itself into the tree, leaving just the ring of the handle sticking out. Jiraiya gulped visibly and made himself swear that he would never, ever, piss off the fox lady again.

"Why me", he sighed as he slumped back down, the kunai handle now adding to his discomfort.

Naruto on the other hand couldn't be in a more comfortable position. He was laying on his back as Kyuubi positioned herself at his side, using his right arm as a pillow while encircling his waist with her own right arm before abruptly falling asleep. They had both agreed that they would move slowly with their somewhat unusual relationship. Though he had to admit, it felt quite good to have a girl sleeping peacefully next to him. He could only hope that she truly meant what she was saying. If not, he realised, God help them all.

As the first rays of the sun shone through the leaves of the trees, several people in the clearing stirred. Jiraiya woke first, though his eyelids were struggling to stay open for more than a few seconds and his back was hurting as hell.

Inside the tent however, Naruto woke up to see a certain red haired beauty resting on his chest. He smiled and gently stroked her hair. He didn't even know why he did it, but he was almost sure it had a bit to do with the seal, though he didn't mind in the least. His gentle ministrations elicited a soft purring from Kyuubi as she gradually woke up under Naruto's touch. She sat upright and stretched, yawning widely and showing off some razor sharp fangs in the process. The blond however didn't feel threatened in the least. She had earned some of his trust after all. She had more than enough chances to kill both him and Jiraiya during the time she had been released from the seal, yet the only thing she had done was warn the pervert and sleep with Naruto. This however soon brought forth another precarious situation. While he was used to sleeping in nothing more than some baggy pants, he wasn't used to having an incredibly sexy girl sleeping on his bare chest wearing nothing more than his own shirt. The result, combined with the power of Kyuubi's seal, was staggering to say the least, especially when she stretched like that, causing the one piece of clothing she was wearing to crawl up a bit. He blushed as she laid back down at his side, a mischievous look on her face.

"Like what you see?", she smiled seductively.

"Yeah, but you know what I told you Kyuu-chan", he admitted.

"I know, I know", she sighed, "I understand that we need to take it slowly, but that doesn't mean I can't tease and seduce you a bit".

"Fair enough", Naruto couldn't help but grin at her suggestion. It wasn't that he really minded her trying to seduce him, actually, he had started to enjoy it, quite a bit too.

"You lovebirds awake yet?", Jiraiya's voice called from outside the tent, "we better start moving now if we want to stay on schedule".

"We'll be right out Ero-Sennin", Naruto replied, ignoring Kyuubi's disappointed look. It was clear that she wanted to snuggle some more, but Jiraiya was right, they had to start moving now if they wanted to reach Konoha on the planned date.

"You ready Kyuu-chan?", he smiled at her. She simply nodded in response.

It didn't take them long to get moving, and they were on their way to Konoha.


	2. Chapter 2: A tale about Gates and Tails

A/N: First of all, I have to say I'm impressed with the truly (well, for me at least) massive amount of responses to the first chapter, it has shattered all records of my other fics in no time. I would never have imagined to attract this many readers. While it still pales in comparison to some of the truly great authors around here, it still is very nice. So I would like to thank you all for reading and commenting on this story. I've made a habit out of replying to every single review (if signed) and I will keep on doing that.

Again, I thank you all.

Enjoy

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**Chapter 2**

While Jiraiya was still a bit jumpy with Kyuubi around when they left that day, it lessened over time. Nevertheless, he still remembered her warnings all too well. He wouldn't make the mistake to piss her off, because unlike Tsunade, a hit from this fury would actually kill him. But since she seemed to leave him alone as long as he didn't bother her or Naruto too much, he didn't really care. He was too busy thanking the gods. It was unreal, right next to him was the Kyuubi, the most powerful creature on the face of the world, a being known to be pure evil, and yet here she was, chatting happily with a certain hyperactive blonde. The situation, and all of the implications for when they reached Konoha were mindboggling.

Naruto on the other hand was having the best time of his life. Simply walking towards his home, next to a beautiful girl. Only now did he understand why Jiraiya did what he usually did, even if he failed miserably. Having someone that loved you by your side truly felt wonderful, and he was actually beginning to fall for her as well.

"She probably didn't even need to use the seal to make me fall in love with her", he thought as he glanced sideways at her. Ever since that fateful evening, she had surprised him almost constantly, and now that he looked back at it, ever since the valley of the end, she hadn't threatened him or anything else even once. She'd only been asking to be released, and he understood her reason for tricking him as she eventually did. It was to be expected actually, who would ever trust a demon fox. The only choice she had was to break free forcefully and prove herself afterwards. It was only logical, and as it was, she was doing one heck of a job out of it. When she wasn't making a joke of some sort, most of them aimed at the hermit walking a bit behind them, she was either telling something about herself or she was recounting a story from far back in history. Being immortal had its advantages. Though it actually ticked him off a bit that he couldn't tell her even one good story that she didn't already know. She had been living inside of him for his entire life and thus knew everything that he had been through. For someone who liked to tell about his own adventures as much as he did, it was a bit depressing, though Kyuubi's presence at his side blasted it away completely.

It was a completely new experience to him. All of his life he had been training and trying to grow stronger. The few moments he did have contact with anyone of the opposite sex were far too short to have a lasting impression, despite Jiraiya's efforts. He couldn't help but laugh when Kyuubi told him another joke, this time about the two-tailed demon. Apparently she had been sealed when she was busy chasing her own tails.

As they walked, they slowly moved towards each other, neither of them really noticing until they felt their hands brush. They looked at the other, Kyuubi smiling widely while Naruto simply blushed. It was funny in a way, the usually overconfident and boisterous blonde was now quite shy, as opposed to the redhead walking next to him. Though it might have had something to do with their first meeting, well at least not with her as a giant fox. She grinned, he'd get over his shyness soon enough. With the two of them connected as they were, a certain something was bound to be happening soon or later, even if Naruto had asked her to take it slowly.

They stopped at a small village after making a detour and managed to get some clothes for Kyuubi to wear. It wasn't really up to shinobi standards, but she didn't really care. For once, the single most powerful engine of destruction on the face of the earth wasn't interested in violence.

"Well I must say Kyuubi, you look quite good in that outfit", Jiraiya said with a small grin on his face. Even with her warning, he still couldn't resist.

"Eyes forward mister", she growled at him in response to his comment, understanding all too well that he was slipping a bit.

"Give him a break Kyuu-chan", Naruto smiled, "he's got a point you know".

Kyuubi sighed, he was right. The old lady they'd bought the clothes from had done a remarkable job. She was now wearing a black pair of trousers and a T-shirt that had been dyed a deep shade of crimson. Below that were some standard black sandals most of the people in fire country wore. While simple, the clothes fit her perfectly and complemented her looks, causing her to make a lot of heads turn in her direction once she had walked out of the little shop.

It did seem strange to Jiraiya though. No one on the village seemed to be bothered by the fact that Kyuubi was walking around with her fox attributes in plain sight. One of the kids had even run towards her and asked Kyuubi if he could touch her tails. Jiraiya's initial horror had gone over in shock when instead of scaring him off, Kyuubi simply smiled and brought one of her tails to right in front of the kid's nose. The youngster had no idea he was holding something that could wipe the entire village off the map with a simple flick. He shrugged, it was probably because people saw their hitai-ate and assumed that she was either a summon of sorts, or that it was some form of technique. Apparently, the size and location of their village meant they had little to no communication with the outside world, which translated into a lack of knowledge about the events that had taken place about eighteen years before. Perhaps it was for the best he sighed.

"Well", Kyuubi responded to Naruto's statement, "even though they are a bit below the clothes the queen of demons should be wearing, I must admit, they are rather nice".

"They look great on you", he smiled, this time making her blush a bit. She wasn't used to people giving her a compliment. Usually it was something more along the lines of, "die demon", or "ruuuuun". Still, she recovered quickly and hid her blush with a broad smile.

"Thanks Naru-kun", giving him a playful nudge with her shoulder as they walked.

"No problem", he replied, giving her a small shove in response.

What followed was a playful reverse tug-of-war which lasted until both Naruto and Kyuubi were walking shoulder to shoulder, each at an opposite angle leaning into each other.

A small snort made them turn their heads, and they saw that Jiraiya, who had been watching the entire show, was desperately trying to contain his laughter. He was actually doing a decent job of it, right until identical goofy grins came over Naruto and Kyuubi's faces at exactly the same time. This broke the dam and the hermit cracked up until he was literally gasping for breath, the couple in front of him soon following his example.

After they'd finally gotten their laughter back under control, Kyuubi and Naruto righted themselves and continued their journey, Jiraiya following them as he had been before.

Several hours later, Kyuubi was getting a bit irritated. Naruto's hand had been brushing against hers every now and then, and while she looked at him every time with a smile on her face, he never acted on it. It was thoroughly frustrating.

"You're a man for crying out loud Naruto", she shouted in her mind. Much to her surprise, Naruto jumped a bit and looked at her.

"Did you just say something Kyuu-chan?", he asked.

"No, why?", she frowned.

"I thought I heard you say something to me", he said, a confused expression on his face. He could've sworn he heard her say something but it had been so vague.

Behind them, the gears in Jiraiya's mind were turning at a rate that was quite a bit above normal. He'd been watching them with quite some interest. The interactions between the two were amusing to say the least, and while he was no Hyuuga, he could still read people's intentions and general thoughts by studying their body language and facial expressions. Kyuubi right now, was an open book to him. When Naruto asked her if she had said something though, it made his mind go into overdrive. She hadn't said anything, yet Naruto thought she had. Given the fact that he had been communicating with her through a mental link for the past five years, it was simply a matter of putting two and two together.

"I think you two still have the mental connection from during the time you were still sealed inside Naruto", he said to her. He saw a slight twinkle in her eyes and wondered what exactly she was thinking at that moment.

"What do you mean Ero-Sennin?", Naruto asked his teacher. It was clear that he hadn't really been paying attention, or rather, not at him.

"What I'm saying is that the mental connection the two of you had while Kyuubi was sealed inside of you still exists. I don't know how it's possible, but it's there. My guess is that it's because of the bonding seal she put on you".

"You're telling me she can read my mind?", he asked in horror. He wasn't exactly too keen on having her snoop through every single one of his thoughts.

"No, it's probably a severely weakened version of what you had before. I think it's mostly strong emotions that are being transmitted through the link".

Naruto nodded, trying to digest this new bit of information as they walked.

"So if what I heard was a strong emotion Kyuu-chan, what exactly was it that you wanted to tell me?", he finally asked after several minutes of pondering.

"Nothing", she sighed dejectedly.

This however wasn't a good idea since Naruto was known to be persistent. Almost in an instant, it became a reversed version of the nagging that Kyuubi had been doing for the better part of five years.

"Come on Kyuu-chan, tell me, please", he asked, looking at her as if he was begging her.

"I said it was nothing", she fumed, increasing her pace, Naruto hurrying after her.

This continued up to the point where they were racing through the treetops. Kyuubi was getting frustrated. She didn't want to tell Naruto anything, but she couldn't outrun him. She had to keep her chakra suppressed to this level because otherwise she might inadvertedly cause a natural disaster or something. This of course meant that she was restricted in power, comparable to a shinobi at about Kage level, perhaps a bit higher.

"Kyuu-chan", Naruto whined. He was still chasing right behind her.

She decided enough was enough and stepped on the brakes, snapping through the branch she landed on and skidding further along the ground. A stupefied Naruto simply overshot her, slamming into a tree because of losing focus. She sighed, walking through the falling leaves towards the blonde who had slid down along the entire length of the oak, hitting a branch every now and then.

Holding his head, he crawled up back to his feet, only to come face to face with an irritated Kyuubi. He unconsciously took a few steps back, fully understanding why Jiraiya was so afraid of Tsunade when she got angry.

"This is what I wanted to tell you", she almost yelled at him as she grabbed his hand and interlaced her fingers with his, "If you want to hold my hand, just do it. You're a man for crying out loud, show that you've got some guts".

Naruto blushed, but nodded.

"Good, so now that's solved, we better get back on the road", she smiled, eagerly dragging him along.

"Wait a second", he interrupted her, tugging on her hand to make her stop, "Where's Jiraiya?"

"I would appreciate it if you rascals told me whenever you planned on playing a game of extended duration tag you know", an out of breath Jiraiya wheezed as he stumbled through some bushes.

"Couldn't keep up old man?", Kyuubi snickered.

"Hey, have some respect for your elders".

"Just so you know, I think I'm the oldest of the two of us", she grinned as she watched Jiraiya stomp back towards the main road, muttering under his breath, "I can still hear you Jiraiya".

Over the next few days, things continued as they had. Kyuubi and Naruto growing closer bit by bit while Jiraiya continued to follow behind them, careful not to do anything to anger the redhead.

"You really like that shirt don't you", Naruto commented one night as they crawled into the tent for the night.

"I love it", she grinned widely, "and I'm going to keep it".

Naruto couldn't help but smile. It was typically her in a way. Once she had laid her claim on something, she wouldn't budge. You could consider the item in question to be lost for good. Not that he minded about the shirt though. She had the habit of sleeping in it, and only that shirt. It was long enough to be considered sufficient as a nightgown, seeing that she only came up to about Naruto's chin, but even so it gave him an occasional view if she made a sudden move or something comparable.

"I'm glad you like it that much", he said just before he gave her a kiss on the cheek and laid down.

Kyuubi got the hint and placed herself in what seemed to be her favourite position, in Naruto's arms as he laid on his back, one arm draped over his chest, her head resting on his biceps.

"We better get some rest, tomorrow's a big day", he whispered.

"I almost can't wait", she smiled back at him.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day. It was the day they would finally reach Konoha. Naruto's mind was abuzz with all sorts of things. How would it be to see his old teammates and the rest of the rookie twelve again. He'd finally meet Tsunade-baa-chan and Iruka-sensei again. But most of all, he'd get to eat some Ichiraku Ramen again, for the first time in five years. Still, there was the nagging concern about what everyone would say about Kyuubi. He'd ask her and Jiraiya about that tomorrow he decided.

The following day, Jiraiya voiced Naruto's concerns without the latter even having to mention it.

"Kyuubi", he started, "I'd like for you to hide your tails and ears while you're in the village, and perhaps you should use a different name as well".

"Why?", she asked, raising her eyebrow at Jiraiya's question.

"Ermmm, isn't it obvious?", he continued, a baffled expression on his face, "if people were to see you like that, there'd be widespread panic. You'd be attacked almost instantly".

"Their funeral", she grinned, "and if you want a reason why I'm not going to hide who I am, here's one. I'm the bloody queen of demons, like hell I'm going to hide my true identity just because some weak-willed idiots are going to get scared. I don't really care about them anyway".

Jiraiya sighed deeply, resting his forehead in the palm of his hand, he had figured as much. Tsunade was going to have his head for this.

His actions were mirrored by Naruto, though for entirely different reasons. He was actually anticipating the reactions of the villagers. To him, it seemed like she was going to pull a massive prank on the entire village. As he looked up, he saw her grin widely and couldn't help but mirror her expression.

"This is going to be good", he thought as he unconsciously rubbed his hands together.

Several hours later, the gates of Konoha finally came into view.

"There it is", Naruto shouted, almost bouncing all over the place with excitement.

"Oooohh", Kyuubi smiled before turning towards the two males, "can I burn it?".

The two of them were baffled by her question. It actually took them several seconds to regain their composure and both shouted a resounding 'No' at her.

"You guys are no fun", she fake-pouted, turning her back towards them, kicking a pebble in the process. She turned around with a smile on her face as soon as she heard the tell-tale sigh which indicated that they had caught on.

"Don't joke like that please", Jiraiya said disapprovingly, holding a hand over his heart, "It's not good for both my heart and my state of mind". The coming confrontation with Tsunade was obviously having its effects on the toad sage. Naruto didn't envy him. He'd seen the results of her punishment whenever Jiraiya managed to tick the Fifth Hokage off, again.

"I hate this job", Hagane Kotetsu sighed as he lazed about in the gate guard shack. Together with his long time friend and colleague, Kamizuki Izumo, he had been stuck with guard duty for several years now. While it wasn't physically taxing or anything, the mental strain it caused was immense. Boredom could do a lot of damage to a person's mind.

"I know it's a tedious job, but it pays well and it's risk free. Would you prefer to be doing dangerous missions?", Izumo replied, though he too was leaning back in his seat, staring at a nonexistent spot on the ceiling.

"Still, why do we have to keep the gate closed, it's not like Konoha's a sealed off village like Iwa".

"Probably to make sure we don't slack off".

"Slack off? I'd be happy to do something around here. We haven't seen anyone pass through the gate lately, or at least, no one unfamiliar", Kotetsu muttered, angry at his superiors that they would think he'd skip the only times this job had the potential to get interesting, "really, the next person that comes through this gate and that doesn't have the proper authorisation to do so is going to find himself in quite a bit of pain. I'm desperate for some action".

"Errr, Kyuu-chan, what exactly are you doing?", Naruto asked as they approached the gate. Ever since Konoha had come into view she'd been acting a bit off, almost even happier than she had been before. While she didn't do anything threatening, it was still strange to see her so excited.

"Nothing Naru-kun", she replied, but continued skipping forward, a big grin plastered all over her face.

The closer they got, the more cheery she grew. Eventually, it was Jiraiya that figured it out.

"Naruto, hurry up, stop her before it's too late!", he shouted at the blonde, who simply looked at him in confusion.

Meanwhile, Kyuubi had already reached the gate, and with a small tap of her hand, brought it crashing down into the village.

"Too late", Jiraiya muttered, smacking his palm against his forehead. Tsunade's list of strikes against him just kept on growing.

"What the hell did you do that for?", Naruto asked her as he raced to her side. She had already advanced halfway across the gate.

"Well, you said I couldn't burn down the village, so I had to find something else. Besides, you can't expect me not to make an entrance right?", she smiled sweetly at him, completely ignoring the two chuunin sitting in the small hut, mere meters from where the shattered remains of the village gate had landed, their jaws hanging wide open.

It took them several minutes to close them and by the time they had come back to their senses, Naruto, Kyuubi and Jiraiya had long disappeared into the village.

"I think this job is affecting our mental health a bit too much", Kotetsu said incredulously.

"Agreed", Izumo agreed, "I say we get back to missions".

Without another word passing between the two of them, they stood up and headed for the Hokage's tower so they could ask for another assignment, and possibly to get Tsunade to do a mental check-up on them as well.

Naruto couldn't really understand the reactions of the two chuunin on guard duty near the gate, but he didn't really care. At least Kyuubi's little stunt hadn't gotten them in trouble, yet.

Their passage through the village towards the Hokage's tower was less amusing though. Unlike the small village they'd bought Kyuubi's clothes in, the people here instantly recognised Jiraiya, himself and Kyuubi. It didn't take any of the adults long to figure out exactly who she was, not that it was hard. There weren't exactly that many people on the planet with fox ears and nine tails. The result was a crowd running away from them, screaming in terror, much to Kyuubi's amusement. Jiraiya on the other hand looked at her, pleading. It seemed as if she was purposely adding to Tsunade's list against him.

"Stop right there", an angry voice suddenly called out. It was followed by the sound of several men landing on the street right in front of the three travellers. Kyuubi's eyes widened a bit as she took in their numbers and apparent strength. There were fifteen in total, three jounin and twelve anbu.

"Three full anbu squads is all?", she snorted inwardly, "they really think that a measly three anbu squads accompanied by their captain is going to be enough to put me down? Please, that's just insulting".

"Hold it people, she's not here to kill or destroy", Jiraiya quickly stepped in front of both Naruto and Kyuubi. The shinobi however, ignored him and started advancing carefully, weapons drawn and ready to strike.

"We don't know how you got Jiraiya-sama under your control you foul beast, but he'll be free when you die", the apparent leader of the group of shinobi hissed.

"And what about Naruto?", Kyuubi growled as she pushed Jiraiya out of her way.

"The demon brat? We know you had him under control for his entire miserable existence, but don't worry, we'll send him to the afterlife right after we dispose of you".

"And you really think you can kill me", she sneered as she slowly cracked her knuckles, her tails unconsciously starting to whisk faster through the air as she got more excited about the upcoming battle.

She had been so focused on the opponents in front of her, that she was taken completely by surprise when suddenly a yellow and orange blur shot past her and barrelled into the group of shinobi. The resulting fight was surprisingly one-sided. It took Naruto less than a minute to knock out every single shinobi that had found the guts to stand against them.

"Awww, you're no fun Naru-kun", she pouted, a bit miffed because she had been denied the chance to enjoy a fight.

"No, I was just preventing any unnecessary loss of life", he replied, "listen, Kyuu-chan. I know they haven't treated me right during my life, but I don't really care about that. I want to become Hokage one day, and it just won't do if the one I'm bound to starts killing those that will protect".

Kyuubi growled lowly in disappointment. She was still quite angry about the way some of the villagers had treated him, but she really couldn't pay them back with interest if Naruto asked her not to, especially when he looked at her the way he was doing. He was absolutely serious about it, to the point where he would actually go against her if she ever threatened any of them again.

"Fine", she finally admitted. It was no use trying to go against Naruto if he was having that look.

"Well then", Jiraiya said, secretly wiping some sweat off his brow, "if that's all worked out, I suggest we go and see Tsunade before we've got more of these brawls on our hands".

Said person was at that time having a very bad day. First of all, Shizune had discovered yet another one of her secret sake stashes. Then she had been forced to work through several stacks of papers that needed signing and last, but most definitely not least, she was beginning to have reports of something weir going on in the village. She, and many other people had heard the massive crash caused by the gate coming down, but she figured a few squads of anbu would check it out and report back eventually. It wasn't like the village needed her exact guidance at any given moment in time. She did get a bit worried when no one came with some sort of report. The only thing she had heard was a bit of people screaming but nothing more. With the infiltration of an enemy spy lurking around every corner, she wasn't that worried. It happened every now and then and usually caused some people to go around town screaming bloody murder. What didn't happen that often though, was that about half the village was having that exact same reaction, at the same time. Just as she was about to step outside and see what exactly was going on, she heard a loud crash at the base of the tower, followed by a few bangs. She raised an eyebrow, but moved into a defensive stance as she heard the sounds slowly moving upwards in her direction.

"No wait, don't", she heard an awfully familiar voice shout, just before the door to her office was blasted off its hinges and embedded itself halfway into the opposing wall, missing Tsunade by a hair.

"Honestly Kyuu-chan, did you really have to break down every single door on the way?", the voice grumbled again. Tsunade's eyes widened as a certain blonde stepped out of the dust that was still hanging around the doorway.

"Naruto!", she squealed as she ran towards her semi-adopted grandchild and put him into a bone-crushing hug. Only after a few seconds, and after a few impatient taps on her shoulder, did she notice Jiraiya standing beside her. Just then, she realised the destruction in her office and her mood instantly shifted to anger, which she gladly directed into the perverted hermit's direction.

"What exactly is the meaning of all this commotion Jiraiya", she shouted, a vein on her forehead starting to bulge out from her irritation.

"Hey, it's not my fault you know", he shrugged, "I couldn't exactly control her".

That last word caught Tsunade's attention.

"Her?"

"Before you say or do anything Tsunade-baa-chan", Naruto quickly added, "please know that she isn't going to do anything to harm the village or its inhabitants".

"What do you mean?", Tsunade asked, still confused. It didn't last long though. As the dust cleared, she could clearly see a redheaded young woman standing in the doorway. But what really made her eyes widen again, was her physical appearance.

"Kyuubi", she breathed, suddenly feeling petrified by the mere sight of the demon standing in front of her.

"Hi", Kyuubi waved, smiling widely. She actually had a bit of respect for Tsunade. Besides the fact that she was one of the few people that actually treated Naruto right, she was also a woman with a tremendous amount of power, much like herself. In a world where most of the powerful shinobi were men, women of that level were extraordinarily rare.

"But how?", Tsunade asked, shifting her look from Kyuubi, to Naruto and Jiraiya and back.

"Long story short. The seal broke, for some very stupid reason I might add", Jiraiya began, "and now Kyuubi's out and about, but she's not going to hurt anyone, even if it may sound unbelievable. She did however knock down the gate and every single door on the way, and she scared some villagers".

"I see", the Hokage grumbled, her surprise slowly turning to anger, "and is there anything else you should tell me about?".

Jiraiya swallowed, he could already see it coming, but he didn't have any chance to avoid it.

"Yeah, she's in love with Naruto", he added, already bracing himself for the inevitable.

Tsunade snapped inwardly. Standing right in front of her was the reason for the disturbance. Oh, she could already see the paperwork coming. Luckily for her, the perfect way to blow off some steam was standing right in front of her. Without warning, she slammed her fist into Jiraiya's face, knocking him clean through the wall.

"Pheeewww", Kyuubi whistled in awe as she watched him sail through the air over the village in a graceful arc, before making a decently sized crater in the stone wall surrounding Konoha, "looks like you haven't lost the touch".

"It's like riding a bike", she shrugged, "once you've learned it, you never forget. But that aside, what exactly is the meaning of this?".

"Well Tsunade-baa-chan", Naruto started, "It's exactly like Ero-Sennin said".

"And when did all this happen?".

"Five days ago".

"Then why didn't you tell me about this beforehand?"

"Well", Naruto hesitated, "we didn't have any way to contact you, and, umm, we sort of forgot".

Tsunade sighed and sat down on the chair behind her desk before burying her head in her hands.

"So what are you planning to do now?", she asked Kyuubi, looking directly into those blood red eyes.

"Well, since I'm bound to Naruto via a seal of my own design, I was actually planning to live with him and perhaps form a team to perform a few missions every now and then. So I kindly ask you to give me permission to become a Konoha nin Hokage-sama". The 'sama' suffix wasn't exactly necessary, but she felt it would give her a bit of a bonus in Tsunade's opinion.

"You're serious".

Kyuubi simply nodded in response.

"And it's not like I have a choice right?"

Another nod.

"Fine then", she conceded, "but I have a few conditions. I take it you won't be hiding your true self, so I'll be making a few new rules here to make sure that no one attacks either you or Naruto. Nevertheless, this probably won't prevent some people from doing something stupid. So I hereby order you never to kill or seriously injure a person while you're here. If it's someone from another village that isn't our ally, you're free to do whatever you wish, but no one from either Konoha, Suna or any other allied village. For the rest, you are to follow the same laws that are used here. If you fail to do so, you'll suffer the consequences, together with Naruto. Also, you'll be starting as a genin".

Kyuubi started protesting against this, but was interrupted by Tsunade.

"Just so you know, every new shinobi, regardless of ability, must start at genin rank when he or she is allowed to join the village forces. That and Naruto is also still a genin, so if you want to form a team, that's the rank you'll be at. I don't have any other available shinobi at the time, so it'll just be the two of you with no sensei or third teammate, but I don't think that'll be a problem right?"

Neither of the two youngsters in front of her said anything, so Tsunade simply continued.

"The following chuunin exams will be held here in Konoha again, in one month. I take it you'll be wanting to participate in them?"

As they heard this, equally wide grins appeared on both Naruto's and Kyuubi's faces. This was going to be fun.


	3. Chapter 3: What will become of our lives

A/N: Here's the next chapter, just in time for the weekend (and valentine's day^^). I hope you enjoy it (oh, and if you've got the time, remember that I love reviews ^^, but then again, don't we all ;) )

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**Chapter 3**

The two persons standing in front of Tsunade were still wearing goofy grins when the few shinobi that had pursued them finally caught up.

"Tsunade-sama", they shouted as they burst into the office, taking up defensive positions around her.

"Stand down", she calmly ordered, much to their dismay.

"But why Tsunade-sama, it's the Kyuubi and the demon brat"

Those were his last conscious words, mere milliseconds later he was sailing through the hole in the wall Jiraiya had made on his rather forceful way out.

"Naruto might be a brat, but he's not a demon", she shouted at the remaining shinobi, ignoring the blonde's huff of frustration, she continued, "and Kyuubi might have broken free, but I assure you that she does not have any ill intent directed towards us".

"She's telling the truth you know", Kyuubi looked at the shinobi, a mischievous glint in her eyes, "as the most powerful demon on earth, I'm not exactly known for subtlety. Not that I have any need for it. If I wanted Konoha wiped off the map, I would've done so when it came into sight, long before any of you would ever even have a chance to try and stop me. So quit shaking in your sandals and move along".

"But Tsunade-sama", one of the nin still complained. He was quickly silenced though.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear any more complaints. The fact is, I like this even less than you do, but it's not like we have a choice. I'd rather have her on our side, than against us, wouldn't you agree? Besides, she's a Konoha nin now, and thus is bound by the same laws as all of us. This however, also means that she's protected by them, so anyone attempting to attack her will be tried as if they had attacked myself, is that clear?"

The nin simply nodded. Having seen what happened to the last person to irritate the Hokage.

"Shizune", Tsunade shouted suddenly, making half the shinobi present in the room jump as her voice echoed through the Hokage's Tower. Almost instantly, the medic nin appeared in the office. Apparently she had been watching the events unfold and had kept herself hidden if a surprise attack might have been in order.

"Yes Tsunade-sama, what is your request?", she politely asked.

"Send a message to the council and every jounin we have. Tell them to gather everyone in front of the tower. I believe a village gathering is in order".

Shizune bowed slightly before poofing away with a shunshin.

As it was, it didn't take long for everyone to gather in front of the Hokage's Tower. In fact, almost half of the village had already been there the moment Tsunade sent out the order. The rumour mill had been working on full blast and now the most insane stories were spreading their way through the village's population. They ranged from Naruto turning into Kyuubi, to Jiraiya having grown tails and going nuts. Though some of them were accurate about one aspect or the other, the general background idea was completely wrong. As a fact, you could say that the only thing the villagers knew was that it had something to do with Naruto, Kyuubi and Jiraiya, which wasn't all that much.

Murmurs went through the crowd as Tsunade appeared at the top of the Hokage's Tower. She sighed inwardly, it wasn't every day that you ran the risk of sparking an all out civil war with a mere announcement. Then again, it wasn't every day that you told everyone in your village that the demon responsible for so much death and destruction was running loose and was apparently not as evil as first believed.

The crowd quieted down as she raised her arms, indicating that she was about to speak. Instantly, every face turned to look at her with rapt attention.

"People of Konoha", she began, "by now, you probably know that Uzumaki Naruto and Jiraiya of the Sannin have returned to the village".

While there were a lot of people that got a scowling look on their faces when they heard Naruto's name, Tsunade was also pleased to see that there were quite a bit of happy expressions mixed in amongst the crowd.

"However", she continued, "they also had someone accompanying them. I know that there is the law set by the Third Hokage that prevents anyone to say anything about a certain subject, but as of today, I am revoking that law. Because in the light of recent developments, it has become impossible to maintain. For those amongst you that do not know about this, I will explain. Eighteen years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked our village, it was not killed".

Murmurs had started anew the moment Tsunade had announced the revocation of the Third's law, but as she continued, gasps of surprise and horror rose from the crowd. While the shinobi of chuunin rank and higher had already heard of Naruto's part in the story, none of the current genin or children knew about it. Tsunade however, kept going.

"The Fourth Hokage couldn't kill the Kyuubi, so he did the next best thing, he sealed her. The vessel was a newborn child, a child known by the name of Uzumaki Naruto, the very same shinobi that left our village to go on a training mission with Jiraiya of the Sannin five years ago. Today, they have returned, but as some of you may already know, something happened during that time. The seal holding the Kyuubi has broken".

Instantly, widespread panic erupted amidst the crowd. People were trying to get away from the Hokage's Tower, but were stopped by the shinobi chosen to perform crowd control. They and a select few others had been given a quick briefing beforehand. Tsunade knew they wouldn't panic and keep the crowd under control.

"However", she shouted, attracting the attention of the mass of people below again, "I have spoken with the Kyuubi and she means us no harm".

Shouts of disbelief rose up from the crowd, but she ignored them.

"Furthermore, she has requested to join the village as one of its shinobi, a request that I've granted. This also means that she is both bound and protected by our laws. However, one special rule has been agreed upon. She may never kill a fellow Konoha villager, ever. You may choose how you respond to this, but I warn you that any attack on them will be treated the same as an attack on myself. I hope I've made myself clear. It's time for us to leave what happened in the past to stay in the past and that we move on. She's not our enemy anymore".

"Tsunade", a voice rang out from the doorway leading to the roof of the tower, "this is an outrage".

She recognised the owner of the voice without even turning around.

"What exactly is Danzou?", she growled lowly, "Shouldn't you be happy? After all, I am making our village stronger, a lot stronger in fact".

"You call that making it stronger? You're practically throwing our village's future away. It's a massive security risk".

"Shut up old man", Kyuubi's voice came from the other side of the Tower's roof, "If I wanted to destroy Konoha, you wouldn't even have a chance to stop me. I haven't, so quit your yapping".

Danzou fumed at this and made a quick gesture with his hand. Immediately, Kyuubi had been surrounded by several members of ROOT. They wasted no time and moved in for the kill, only to be intercepted by a blonde and orange blur.

"Don't you even dare to touch her", Naruto growled, positioning himself between Kyuubi and Danzou.

"You're lucky they faced Naruto you know", Tsunade interrupted the current glaring match between the blonde shinobi and the council member, "If they had faced either Kyuubi or myself, they'd been dead".

"Danzou", she continued, "you are not to do anything to harm these two. Failure to do so will result in your immediate termination".

Tsunade's harsh words, combined with a petrifying glare coming from the three shinobi opposing him made him take a few steps back. He may be lusting for power almost constantly, but he wasn't stupid, he knew when he was beaten. Without even acknowledging the threat, he turned his back on them and hurriedly moved back to the council chambers. He would try to stir up the rest of them, though he very much doubted he'd be successful. The look in Kyuubi's eyes made it very clear that if there was any 'irregularity' of sorts, she'd be having his head on a silver platter. It would take a lot of planning, subterfuge and money to bring those three down.

Meanwhile, Kyuubi and Naruto had forgotten all about Danzou's earlier distraction and had walked up to the edge of the tower's roof. Again, a wave of shock went through the crowd as they recognised Naruto and instantly made the connection with the woman standing beside him. It took the crowd control force every bit of authority they had to restrain the villagers. Some wanted to run away screaming, others seemed like they were about to jump all the way to the tower and attack.

"Shut up you bunch of cowards", Kyuubi suddenly shouted, her voice silencing everyone present, "as Tsunade here said before, I'm not about to attack you. Sheesh, why can't you all just move on and forget about the past. If I had wanted this village destroyed, I would have done so long ago. So consider yourselves lucky that I now have something more important in my life than destruction".

This particular comment raised some eyebrows with a few members of the crowd. It wasn't until her words had truly sunk in that people started to notice just who was talking to them. Slowly, but surely, jaws started dropping with both the male and female populace as they took note of Kyuubi and Naruto respectively. While there were a few girls that had been interested in Naruto before he had even left with Jiraiya on his training trip, such as Hinata and a few other non descript girls, no one had really paid attention to him before. How stupid they had been they thought to themselves. While he still wore orange in his outfit, it had become a bit less, there was a bit more black woven into it now, covering his shoulders and upper arms. But that was completely ignored by the female part of the crowd. What they were interested in was his looks. He'd long since known himself that he was the son of Namikaze Minato, better known as the Yellow Flash and the Fourth Hokage. The villagers however, did not. Standing in front of them was almost the exact replica of the Yondaime, and while this did raise some question marks with some, most were simply too entranced by his appearance. Kyuubi, well, she was Kyuubi. Even as a demon fox as powerful as she was, she had always been blessed with good looks in her part human form. To put it simply, if she hadn't been known as the fox she was, she'd have every single male wrapped around her finger already. Even so, there were quite a few that had difficulty swallowing.

"Hey Kyuu-chan, what's the big deal with all those looks we're getting", Naruto asked. He wasn't exactly the brightest when it came to relationships, and this only proved it even more.

"Just so you know Naru-kun, you're quite good looking, and to be frank, so am I", she grinned, "I think they just feel attracted to us, well, the males at me and the girls at you of course".

"A bit stupid if you ask me, they don't have a chance of getting in between us anyway", Naruto looked at the crowd, sighing a bit.

"Yes, but it's a proper bit of revenge nevertheless", she smiled. All of those girls and women down there that were looking at Naruto right now were nothing more than fools entranced by a person's looks. There was one exception really, the Hyuuga heir, Hinata. Kyuubi sighed, she actually liked the girl, but couldn't help but get irritated about her shyness. Even so, she would have to meet with her later on, in private, that she could make her relationship with Naruto clear. She didn't like to break the girl's heart, but better to have it done in private. Besides, she was just too kind to deserve the treatment Kyuubi had planned for every single other fangirl out there. She couldn't help but chuckle vindictively at her plans.

Ignoring her laugh, Naruto took Kyuubi's hand and gently started pulling her along towards the exit.

"We're going home", he answered both Tsunade's and Kyuubi's unasked question. He took off, leaving damage control to an already overstressed Tsunade. Thankfully for her, Jiraiya had recovered and decided to appear in her sights at that exact time. His unfortunate fate however, shocked the crowd back into reality. They quickly realised who was in charge and decided to use other ways to complain. The result was a mountain of paperwork, all of it with final destination: Tsunade's desk.

Though they were given varying looks during their trip to the village, ranging from shock and anger, to admiration and lust (which gave Naruto the creeps, particularly the one from the old lady in the cheese shop), no one attempted to attack them. He didn't know if it was because of Tsunade's warning or simply Kyuubi's presence, but he couldn't care less. He was in quite a good mood, he was home again and couldn't wait to meet all his friends from the rookie twelve, his now former teammates in particular. That however would have to wait. His good mood had shifted in a split second when he laid eyes on his apartment. While there were no signs of anyone doing some damaging, it had obviously suffered through the five years he'd been gone. It was amazing what a lack of maintenance could do to a house. Dirt was everywhere, the wallpaper had faded and come loose in some places. There were cracks visible in the ceiling, his fridge looked more like a small fungus zoo right now together with the rest of his kitchen, and he didn't even dare look at his bed. Turning around, he motioned Kyuubi away from his apartment, they had no choice but to find another place to stay.

"If we can't stay here, why don't we stay at your parents' old place", Kyuubi suddenly suggested, making Naruto stop dead in his tracks before he turned around and stared at her, baffled. It was so simple, he was Namikaze Minato's son, so of course he still had that to go to. Besides, there were some special jutsu in place that prevented anyone not of Namikaze blood or anyone bound to them in any way to go near it, it was perfect. Jiraiya had even told them there was a caretaker that had been ordered to keep the place tidy until the next heir came to claim it. There was one little problem though.

"Err, Kyuu-chan", he asked sheepishly, "do you remember the address? I know Ero-Sennin told me but I forgot."

Sighing deeply, Kyuubi dragged him off, keeping a somewhat forceful grip on his hand. Naruto, with no other viable alternative, followed her closely.

It didn't take them long to reach the right address, though both Kyuubi and Naruto checked several times to make sure it was the right one.

"You're absolutely positively sure that this is the place right?", Naruto asked the redhead standing beside him. She however, was utterly confused at the moment. She had always been right before, she never forgot even the slightest detail, yet here she was, questioning her own mind.

"I'm sure this is the place Naru-kun, I'm never wrong", she finally decided. It wasn't exactly what she had been expecting, but at least they had a place to sleep now.

Naruto sighed deeply, he had been expecting a bit more from the former Yondaime Hokage's house, but still. With no viable alternative left, they both stepped into the small apartment building and headed up to the top floor, where apparently, the residence of one Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina had once been. As they approached the only door on the uppermost level, Kyuubi started feeling a tingle on the back of her neck, indicating that there was a warding jutsu nearby.

"Hold it right there you rascals", a raspy voice suddenly echoed through the seemingly empty hallway. The couple jumped slightly and turned around only to come face to face with an old lady leaning heavily on a cane.

"How the hell did she sneak up on us", both Naruto and Kyuubi thought at the same time.

"You two best be staying away from that door if you know what's good for you", she warned them, "Only two people were ever allowed to go through that door besides me, and those people are gone without anyone to continue their legacy. Anyone that tries will suffer some nasty consequences. I remember this one time when Jiraiya of the Sannin tried to sneak in to get some 'research material' he called it, on the couple. Let's just say he knew better than to try again afterwards". The old lady chuckled as her eyes glazed over a bit. It was the same common look that old people usually get when they're thinking back at the 'good old times'.

Naruto ignored her and stepped forward. As he grabbed the handle, a bright light erupted from the door and enveloped both him and Kyuubi. The old lady doubled over in laughter and was already expecting some obscene situation. Thus it was much to her surprise that Naruto simply turned the handle and stepped into the apartment, Kyuubi following right behind him. Her jaw dropped as she saw the door close behind them, only to open again when Naruto stuck his head through the doorway.

"Oh, and thanks for keeping this place cleaned up", he grinned at the lady who was currently in the process of imitating a frozen goldfish.

When Naruto closed the door again and turned around, Kyuubi had already disappeared. Hearing a faint noise in one of the rooms, he quickly moved towards its source. What he saw there made his heart melt. Kyuubi had already found the master bedroom and gone to sleep. The sight was incredibly cute. She had curled herself up in the blankets, her ears twitching every now and then while a couple of her tails swished back and forth slowly, having escaped from being enclosed in the fabric. He listened to her soft breathing for a moment, until he heard a familiar growl coming from his abdomen.

Leaving her to her sleep, Naruto quickly moved into the kitchen and, much to his surprise, found it fully stocked. He decided to make a cup of instant ramen before moving off to bed himself. He didn't know how he managed it, but he didn't wake up Kyuubi, though apparently, she subconsciously noticed his presence anyway. He had barely slipped beneath the covers next to her when she turned in her sleep and latched onto him, embracing him in her favourite sleeping position. He smiled, stroking her bright red hair in gentle passes. The day had worn him out more than he though, he realised as he felt his eyelids grow heavy. He didn't resist when they finally shut and he drifted off into a peaceful sleep. Exploring their new home could wait until tomorrow, even if there wasn't really that much to explore.

Tsunade sighed deeply as she buried her head in her hands. It was already four in the morning, and now there was only a single piece of paperwork left. The necessary papers for both changing Naruto's ranking and adding Kyuubi to the bingo book of their village. It was standard procedure when adding new shinobi to the ranks of the village to add them to the village's own bingo book. It contained extensive information of every single shinobi so that if they got in trouble, their comrades could always recognise them or perhaps follow a specific trail.

"So, what should we add to the bingo book Tsunade-sama?", Shizune asked politely as she held the papers.

"For Naruto, Genin rank shinobi of Konoha, special skills are Rasengan and Kage Bunshin for as far as we know, and set the danger level to S class for him. Oh, and change his last name. It's about time the rest of the village knows who exactly they've been messing with during his youth".

"What do you mean Tsunade-sama?"

"Oh, right, you don't know either. Just put this down as his name, Namikaze Naruto".

Hearing the familiar name, Shizune was stunned for a second. She was however, still on the job. She recovered quickly and handed Tsunade the next paper, the one destined for Kyuubi's entry in the books.

"As for Kyuubi, also Genin rank shinobi of Konoha, special skills are unknown and danger level is S class as well. As for a full name, well, just put down Namikaze Kyuubi, I think she'll like that".

Shizune nodded as she made a mental note of the information, before turning and leaving the office. Even if she didn't show it on the outside, she was dead tired and in desperate need for some sleep. Meanwhile, Tsunade had decided to forego the need for a comfy bed and had fallen asleep behind her desk, as she usually did after working through most of the night. The advantage of that was that the morning shift always had some coffee available. The effect the caffeine had on her body was incredible, though she had to be extremely careful with the quantity though. Too much could have some disastrous consequences.

Meanwhile, in a far-off cave, a pair of two shinobi wearing black robes decorated with red clouds were listening to the orders a holographic image of their leader was giving.

"Itachi, Kisame", Pain, the leader of Akatsuki said to his underlings, "there has been a disturbance in Konoha. According to my informants, the container of the Kyuubi has returned. You are to find out the truth behind this information and if so, capture him as soon as possible".

The two shinobi nodded as they watched the appearance vanish, before they headed off to Konoha. While they could make the journey in less than a day, they weren't zealous enough to move any faster than normal walking speed. They'd take a few days, but their leader could wait for all they cared. They had all the time in the world.

As sunlight filtered through the partly closed curtains, Naruto started waking up. It took him a while before he realised where he was. He tried to get up, but as was usual these days, was hindered in this movement by a redhead lying on his chest. He smiled happily as he laid back down, careful not to rouse her. Kyuubi was a notoriously long sleeper. While they had been travelling, Jiraiya had literally risked life and limb by waking her up when it was time to go, usually resulting in him missing a few plucks of hair where kunai had decided to fly through it. Since they were home again, Naruto decided that it would be alright for her to sleep in for a change.

It took her another hour to wake, but when she did, she was incredibly hungry, her stomach echoing Naruto's own stomach in low growls.

"Come on Kyuu-chan, hurry up and get dressed, there's somewhere I want to take you", he said as he walked into the bathroom to change his own clothes.

After they had both cleaned themselves up and put on some clean clothes, Naruto and Kyuubi ran out of the apartment building, not even bothering to lock the door, the warding jutsu would take care of any unwanted visitors. While they ran, the reactions of the villagers were mixed again, not that they really cared. Kyuubi even smiled at some kids that had curious looks on their faces. At least, until their mothers quickly shooed them inside of a shop or their house. It was clear that no one, besides some of the more love-struck males ,trusted her. Not that she could really blame them but still, they ought to have gotten over it by now.

Even if Naruto hadn't been in Konoha for about half a decade, he still knew every single street and alley like the back of his hand, the result of years of running and hiding from crowds of angry villagers. Thus, it didn't take them long to get to Naruto's number one choice of establishment for any kind of food, even if it was usually limited to one kind, with several variations.

"Welcome", Teuchi said cheerfully. He'd been there with the rest of the village when the announcement had been made, but he never had cared about details such as that, and if the Kyuubi wanted nothing more than to be with Naruto, that was fine by him.

"So, how is my favourite customer?", he smiled, "It's good to see you back Naruto, now I can finally get the funds necessary for some private purchases I've been planning for some time".

"Good to see you too old man Teuchi. I'd like to introduce you to someone", Naruto replied, gently pushing Kyuubi forward.

"Well, I don't think any introductions are necessary", Teuchi grinned, "the Hokage did that for us yesterday. So what'll it be for the two of you? First bowl's on the house".

"Wooohooo", Naruto cheered as he jumped high into the air, happy that he would finally get to eat Ichiraku ramen again, and to top it off, the first bowl was free. It always seemed to taste better when it was free, probably because it was through the added thought that he was either lucky enough to get a coupon or that someone else was kind enough to give it to him.

Soon enough, both of them had ordered and were given their bowls. As Naruto devoured bowl after bowl, paying back the free one from earlier with the profit made on the others, Kyuubi was slowly eating her own food. While she didn't have such a ravenous appetite as the blonde sitting next to her, she was quite hungry. Even so, she tried to enjoy the meal. While she had been a bit sceptical at first, she now realised why Naruto liked ramen so much and she had to admit that it was indeed pretty good. But while she didn't really want to eat it every day, it would be nice as a dish every now and then. They enjoyed their meals in relative silence and peace, at least until a familiar chakra signature appeared just around the corner. Naruto's head shot up in an instant, right before he dove back down and devoured what was left of his ramen. Kyuubi too had sensed the signature, it put her a bit on edge. She didn't know what the reactions of the people approaching them would be.

"We figured you'd be here Naruto", a slightly condescending voice came from behind him.

"Hello Sasuke, Sakura", he replied before turning around, a big smile on his face. He was happy to see his teammates again. His smiled dimmed a bit though when he saw the signs of worry, even if they were smiling.

"Listen", he continued, "I know what you're thinking, and I know that you don't exactly trust Kyuu-chan here. But I assure you that she's completely harmless, well, if you don't get on her bad side that is".

Both of his former teammates gulped a bit at that, but they relaxed a bit when Kyuubi shot them a gentle smile and put her hand on Naruto's shoulder. Even so they kept their guards up and were on the lookout for any irregularities.

Sakura however also had some decidedly strange thoughts shooting through her head. First was the twang of jealousy she had felt for some strange reason when Naruto had called the redhead sitting next to him Kyuu-chan, then when the girl in question had put her hand on his shoulder. It was thoroughly confusing her. She still knew in her heart that she loved Sasuke, even after what he had done to both her and the village. She wasn't attracted to Naruto in that way, even though she had to admit he had become quite the catch to the one lucky enough to hook him. No, she felt more like a sister to him, and now it was as if she had somehow lost her brother to the Kyuubi. It made her heart ache a bit to realise that now, when he had only just returned. She knew there was little chance of them ever being in the same team again, especially after she had reached Jounin status, while he was still stuck at Genin level. Still, she had been hopeful. That hope however had been crushed when she learned from her teacher, Tsunade, that he'd been teamed up with Kyuubi and would participate in the Chuunin exams together with her. Her guess was that those two would stay together as a team, and probably a lot more for the rest of their lives. As Tsunade's apprentice, she was privy to a lot more information than most, and she knew the two of them had been bound together in some way or the other. She was about to ask Kyuubi what exactly the nature of her relationship with Naruto was, but she was interrupted when the redhead in question suddenly stood up and started walking out of the ramen stand. Naruto moved to stop her, but she simply whispered something in his ear and made him sit down again.

"I'll be right back", she smiled at the three of them before she moved off, headed straight for the person hiding behind a tree not too far out.

Naruto didn't really understand what was happening with Kyuubi, but he stayed put as she had told him to. It all became clear though when he heard a voice talking in his head. It was only one word, but it made everything clear.

"Hinata", Kyuubi said politely.


	4. Chapter 4: Completely mental

A/N: First of all, I'd like to thank all of those that pointed out that horrible mistake I made in the previous chapter (for those that didn't notice it, I fixed it as soon as I heard of it ^^). I really appreciate your advice and keen eyes. Even though I usually check through everything in a chapter, the occasional error still slips through, so don't hesitate to let me know.

With that said, I'd also like to issue a warning, of sorts. There is some **mature content** in this chapter, it's still not true lemon class, but I'm trying to build up towards it. I don't have any experience with writing this kind of thing so if you've got any advice or such, please let me know. Oh, and if you simply want to tell me what you think, that's also more than welcome ^^

Enjoy ^^

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**Chapter 4**

To say that Hinata was surprised was a bit of an understatement. She'd been so fixed on Naruto that she hadn't even noticed Kyuubi approaching her until the redhead in question was standing almost right in front of her. She jumped in surprise, revealing herself to the rest of the shinobi sitting at the ramen stand. They moved to join her, but a quick gesture of Kyuubi stopped them, indicating clearly that it was supposed to be a private conversation.

"Hinata-san", she began, using the most friendly tone she could muster, "before you say anything, I must tell you that you are one of the few people of this village that I actually like. You didn't ridicule him during his youth, you stood by and tried to help during some of his most trying times and even changed yourself for him. And I also know about your crush on him, which I presume has only gotten stronger now that you've seen him again after those five years".

Hinata blushed furiously as she heard those words, partly because she was not used to being praised, but also because Kyuubi knew about her attraction to Naruto.

"I must admit", Kyuubi continued, "that if I hadn't managed to break free, I would've loved to see both you and Naru-kun together. Heck, I would've even encouraged him to get to know you better. But you see, I love him as well and I'm pretty sure he loves me too. And I know it's a bit unfair to you, but I've put an un-removable seal on him that eliminates any feelings for any woman besides myself. I have it on my body as well, so I'm only attracted to him. While I have no doubt that there will be many trying to steal Naru-kun away from me, and since I like you, I thought it only fair that you get to find out beforehand so that you don't get hurt".

Hinata looked confused at this, until Kyuubi clarified.

"It's not like I'm going to be gentle with any that approach him with an intent that is more affectionate than mere friendship. I'm going to make sure they're hurt both physically and mentally. And the same goes for any males that approach me by the way", she added in a giggle.

Hinata on the other hand was a bit distraught. She had been crushed to hear that Naruto would never return her love. Any chance on her dream being fulfilled was now gone, forever. On the other hand, she was glad that Kyuubi was the one destined for him. During the utterly short conversation they'd had, it was clear that she cared a lot about Naruto, up to the point where she would literally wipe anything that threatened him off the face of the earth. This made it clear to her that Kyuubi would be a better choice than any other female in the village besides herself. Also she was glad that she was on Kyuubi's good side, but those thoughts were soon pushed to the back of her mind.

She nodded, looking down at the ground, in disappointment this time. Tears started leaking out of the corners of her eyes, but she soon raised her head again and looked Kyuubi straight in the face, never taking her eyes of the red orbs that shone back to her.

"Take care of Naruto-kun", she forced the words through her tears, "and if anyone ever tries to hurt him or take him away from you, I'll help you Kyuubi no Kitsune-sama".

"Please, don't use that title, it's embarrassing", Kyuubi chuckled and pulled a startled Hyuuga heir into a hug, "I really appreciate that Hinata. Friends?".

"Friends", Hinata replied, wiping away her tears with the sleeve of the heavy jacket she still wore after she broke the hug with Kyuubi.

"Hey, is everything alright there?", Naruto suddenly shouted. He'd seen the tears appearing on Hinata's face and almost instantly his 'concerned friend' side had taken over.

"Everything is just fine Naru-kun", Kyuubi called back to him as she watched Hinata smile. She too had realised that even if Naruto would never love her, they could still be the best of friends. It didn't take long for her to be involved in the meal as well and soon she was laughing along with the rest of them as Naruto and Kyuubi told stories about the things they'd seen on their trip with Jiraiya.

"So", Naruto finally decided to switch topics, "what can you guys tell us about the upcoming Chuunin exams?".

Sasuke and Hinata looked strangely at him before they suddenly realised that he was still a Genin. Sakura simply looked amused, waiting to see what would happen.

"There's nothing much we can tell you Naruto", Sasuke started, "I think Shikamaru has made info cards like those shown to us by that bastard Kabuto during our first exams, not that there have been many changes in the general level of participants. But don't you need a team to participate in them?"

"I see, I'll have to ask him for some information about the other Genin then. And about the team, that's already taken care of", Naruto grinned widely, swinging his arm over Kyuubi's shoulder, "isn't that right Kyuu-chan?".

"You and Kyuubi are going to participate in the Genin exams as a team?", Sasuke asked in disbelief, "Damn, I wish I had signed up as one of the proctors. Now I'm going to miss one heck of a show".

"You sure are", Kyuubi had an almost evil smirk over her face, "I can't wait to see the reactions of those poor little Genin shinobi when they realise they're facing both the legendary Kyuubi no Kitsune and Konoha's future Rokudaime Hokage".

"Can you take pictures?", Sakura asked mischievously.

"We'll try".

Soon after, laughter came rolling out of Ichiraku Ramen again.

Naruto and Kyuubi spent the rest of the day walking through Konoha, buying some shinobi equipment and expanding their wardrobes. While Naruto simply got himself some more casual clothes, Kyuubi had a few shinobi versions of her favourite, and until about an hour earlier, only, outfit made. The difference between her standard clothes and the shinobi versions was subtle, but efficient nonetheless. While outwardly there was almost no visible difference, with the exception of the kunai holster and hip pouch that was standard for every shinobi, the clothes had been made from a much heavier material, designed to withstand any tears. A thin iron mesh had also been woven into it on key locations, such as in front of the heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and other vital points. While it did make the clothes a bit heavier, the added protection was worth it. The seams had also been reinforced, furthering the quality of the outfit. It was strange though, how Kyuubi's presence seemed to further his shopping experience this time. The owners of the stores had never been this helpful while she had been sealed inside of him.

Said owners were having a strange reaction at that moment. While physically attracted to Kyuubi, no doubt, they were also scared shitless of her. The combined result was that they tried to help the couple as soon as they could, both to be as close to Kyuubi as they could, and to have them out of their shop as fast as possible. Another pleasant side effect was the discount they got on just about anything they bought. Naruto's wallet was lighter by about only half the amount it normally would've been. Her new suit combined with the weapons and her hitai-ate, which she wore loosely around her neck, really made her look like a Konoha shinobi.

Kyuubi blushed brightly though, when Naruto happily commented that it was one of the cutest things he'd ever seen. Kyuubi walking around in the middle of Konoha, wearing shinobi gear and the leaf hitai-ate, while her tails waved lazily behind her. The only thing that had topped that moment of cuteness was the one when she had dived into a pile of clothes when she had spotted a piece of crimson fabric, her favourite colour. At that time, her tails had been swishing back and forth so quickly that the actually knocked over two racks of clothes and the stores clerk that had come to investigate the ruckus. They had hastily offered their apologies, but once they were outside, they both couldn't hold in their laughter and had nearly collapsed on the street, ignoring the strange looks everyone was giving them.

After their small shopping spree, they decided to go back to their apartment and do a bit of exploring before going to sleep.

As it turned out, there wasn't really that much to explore, as they both had suspected. They'd been hoping to find some sort of hidden passage to a storeroom filled with gold or jutsu scrolls or anything, but it was a simple apartment, perfectly suited for a young couple that was still getting settled down. Besides the master bedroom, which both Naruto and Kyuubi had claimed as their own, there was one smaller bedroom, a kitchen that was a bit bigger than the one in Naruto's first apartment, a dining room and a living room. All in all it was a decent size and they couldn't really say that they didn't like it. Compared to Naruto's earlier place, it was bigger, and a lot cleaner. Kyuubi shuddered a bit at the thought of having to clean up that place, especially that monstrosity that had once been called a fridge.

After they had a quick dinner, they found themselves huddles next to each other in the couch, watching some TV. While Naruto hadn't really watched it that much during his life, it still felt relaxing to simply sit there with Kyuubi leaning into his side, her head on his shoulder. Soon he noticed her breathing deepening as it became more regular. It was easy to tell that she'd fallen asleep on the spot. He thanked the landlady for her thoughtfulness in keeping the flat in order as he picked up a conveniently placed blanket from the couch and used it to cover himself and Kyuubi. Sighing in contentment, he too closed his eyes and fell asleep shortly afterwards.

The next couple of days seemed to race past as they both prepared for the upcoming Chuunin exams. Sasuke's advice of going to see Shikamaru for some information on the competitors had been fruitless. He'd told them that those cards were purely for village intelligence purposes only and thus were not available to 'mere' Genin. While they had been disappointed, they could understand. Shikamaru had become a Tokubetsu Jounin in the five years Naruto had been out of the village. Now he was leader of a special division of the Konoha Intelligence Service. While the rest of the department specialised in gathering information, through torture or other, more subtle means, his specialised team was meant to put that information to effective use. They conducted simulations on possible battle strategies and worked out every single scenario they could come up with. The result was quite surprising actually. While other villages would be lost when an unexpected event happened, Konoha would be ready, in any possible scenario. Because of its success, Suna had recently begun adopting the special division as well.

His only piece of advice had been not to worry and relax, the competition had not changed over the years so they should be able to breeze through it. While it had been reassuring, several training grounds were soon found to be utterly devastated in the days after.

People had already started wondering about the sudden destruction springing up and the occasional explosion, but it had soon become clear when a couple of Jounin had stumbled upon Naruto and Kyuubi sparring. They had narrowly escaped with their lives when a stray blast of foxfire came their way, and soon everyone knew to stay away whenever they heard a rumble going on in one of the training areas.

When questioned about it, the only explanation one would ever get was that the two of them were simply getting used to the other's fighting style and learning how to work together, not that they would actually need it. The truth was, both of them simply enjoyed fighting and they just couldn't resist when they had such a strong opponent in the other. While Kyuubi could easily outclass Naruto's level of power, it would also mean that half of Konoha would be levelled, not just a training ground.

This however meant that while Konoha was 'relatively' safe, the repair crews were working overtime. They had only just finished patching up the gate and the rest of the doors that had suffered under Kyuubi's first entrance in the village when the massive demolition of the training grounds had begun. After only a week, they were being driven to despair as more and more fields became littered with craters, snapped trees, scorch marks and pulverised rock. It went so far that Tsunade had been forced to put up several teams of Genin and even one Chuunin team as backup for the construction crews. But while they petitioned to have Naruto and Kyuubi stop their training, it was a futile effort. Both of them were shinobi, and thus were allowed to use the grounds as they pleased. When they continued to protest, she simply said that if they had any further complaints, they should just go and talk to the couple themselves. Her little suggestion made the men blanch and they hurried out the door without even as much as a squeak.

Tsunade looked up though when a massive explosion lit up the slowly darkening sky, bathing the village in a warm orange glow. She grinned when a couple of wails, obviously from the repair crews, echoed from down at the tower. They'd be working overtime again it seemed.

With a tired groan, Naruto let himself fall onto the bed in the apartment. Almost instantly, he found Kyuubi snuggling into his side, wearing her trademark 'T-shirt and nothing else' nightclothes.

"You really like sparring with me don't you Naru-kun", she smiled seductively.

"As a matter of fact I do, I'd never have imagined to be sparring with you one day. But I must admit, it's one hell of an adrenaline rush. There isn't anyone out there that's as strong as you, not even Ero-Sennin or Tsunade-baa-chan. Heck, even my dad couldn't kill you and he's what, the strongest shinobi that ever lived?"

"That isn't exactly true Naru-kun", she said, a bit solemnly as she remembered Naruto's father. They really were like father and son, at least in the looks department. That and they had the same fierce look on their faces when they fought, she could tell. But while she had loathed the father, even if she now felt regret about killing him, she loved the son. And while he did act a bit weird around her at times, she knew that he didn't hate her at all. In fact, she thought he was simply acting a bit weird because he had never before been in love with someone. She hadn't either, but at least she had lived a very long time and had observed many people that had been in love. In that aspect it could almost be considered to be a disease, a very good one though, since it was easily recognised because of a few typical and sometimes quite blatant 'symptoms'. Hinata would be the perfect example of one of those, with her shyness and all.

Still, she knew that while she was absolutely positive that both her and Naruto were in love with each other, she had to take her time. It was a fact that during his life, Naruto had come on contact with quite a few people that had hurt his feelings, the most prominent being Sasuke, even though he had returned on his own. The funny thing was, Naruto had actually been ticked off a bit because of it, since he wouldn't have his rematch with one of the last Uchiha. In any case, it wouldn't do to try and rush him, such things would only make him push her away.

"What do you mean Kyuu-chan? That my dad wasn't the strongest?", Naruto asked curiously, shaking her out of her musing.

"Well, to begin with, his chakra capacity wasn't exactly that high and neither were his strength and speed. The thing that separated him from all those others was his clever design and use of a specialised number of jutsu, especially the Hiraishin. Let me tell you, it's mightily annoying when there's a small yellow thing flashing around you and cutting you in several hundred places at the same time", she finished with a slightly amused growl.

"So it wasn't because he was insanely strong or fast or anything that he was so powerful".

"Exactly, strength isn't everything and neither is speed. What really matters is techniques, if you have those and have the strength, speed and chakra necessary to execute them, then, and only then will you be truly strong. While there isn't one thing that isn't important, it's not good to overly focus on one thing. In fact, it might even be used against you. Take strength for example, if you're not careful, your opponent can use it against you, not to mention the fact that your own muscles can be used as the perfect choking tools if he gets a hold of your arms in the correct position. Furthermore, there are some moves that rely on the reflexes of your opponent to hit, so the faster you are and the faster your reflexes are, the harder you'll get hit by those".

Naruto nodded and started thinking deeply, digesting the advice Kyuubi had just given him. He was so caught up that he didn't even notice it when she started smiling wickedly and snuck behind him.

"Ack, what the hell?", he exclaimed when he suddenly felt her jumping on him. He tried to shake her off, but she held on and started tickling him, eventually making his sides ache from the laughter.

"You know, you should never drop your guard like that Naru-kun", she grinned sweetly at him as she finally released him and snuggled back into his side. Her rest didn't last long though. Soon enough Naruto had jumped her and returned the favour.

"And you should never give your opponent a chance to recover Kyuu-chan", he smiled as she panted from all of the laughing she'd gone through. He watched her with a gentle look, but couldn't help himself as his eyes strayed towards her chest. The mounds of her breasts rising and falling with every breath she took. As soon as he caught himself staring though, he quickly removed his gaze. This action however, made him blush a very deep red. Apparently, her T-shirt had moved up quite a bit when they'd been fooling around. Right now, the hem was around her navel. She noticed his red face and quickly followed his look. Seeing what had happened, she too blushed, but quickly recovered. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen it before, though she had to admit, those had been fleeting and partial looks or at a distance, right now it was almost like an exhibition. She quickly pulled the hem of her shirt down and looked at Naruto.

"I swear I didn't mean to", he stammered, full well knowing what happened to men who dared look at females like that. He'd seen Jiraiya often enough.

She smiled and pushed him down onto the bed before swinging herself onto him, straddling him over his stomach. He swallowed heavily, she wasn't wearing any underwear so he could clearly feel her as she sat on top of him.

"You silly idiot", she grinned, "you know I love you Naru-kun, and I'm pretty damn sure you love me as well. So it's not a big deal if you see me naked you know".

When he made no apparent changes in expression or posture, she decided that she'd need some heavier artillery. She leaned down, lowering herself until she knew that he could clearly see into the gap between her neck and the shirt, giving him an eyeful of her breasts.

"Listen Naru-kun", she whispered, "I love you, so don't be afraid, I won't hit you or anything".

"I know Kyuu-chan", he finally breathed. Apparently he was quite embarrassed by the show she'd been putting on, but that would soon pass, she knew.

"It's just that I've never felt anything like this before, you know", he continued in the same, uncharacteristically quiet voice.

"Hush Naru-kun, I know, and it's perfectly alright to feel a bit scared", she whispered in his ear.

"I love you", she smiled before she gently lowered her lips on his. The result wasn't what either of them had expected. A shock coursed through both their bodies, converging on the points where they both had their seal. It glowed brightly before subsiding again and completely disappearing into their bodies. The shock however had made Naruto's body go rigid, while Kyuubi's tails had stretched out to their limit, every hair standing on its end.

"Wow", they breathed at the same time, before Naruto gently pulled her back down, this time initiating the kiss. He didn't feel the tidal pull of attraction coming out of the seal anymore, not that he would fight it though, except when it would dare take him too far. In any case, he didn't want to fight anything that felt so, right.

Kyuubi moaned slightly when she felt Naruto kiss her again and she involuntarily opened her mouth, granting him access. He eagerly deepened the kiss and put his arms around her, pulling her close.

"You know what Kyuu-chan", he smiled when they finally broke apart, "I think I love you too".

Kyuubi's heart skipped a few beats when she heard those words. She had never been loved before, and couldn't help but cry some tears of happiness.

Naruto, of course, royally misunderstood and immediately started comforting her, until she waved him off.

"Naru-kun", she sniffled through her tears, "I'm not crying because I'm sad or because you hurt me, I'm simply crying because I'm so happy".

He didn't say anything at that, but simply pulled her back into his embrace and kissed the top of her head, right between her two fox ears which were laying down at the moment.

They slept in that position that night, neither ever shifting even the slightest bit.

Naruto smiled as he woke up with his face half buried in a mass of red hair. Kyuubi was still sleeping soundly on his chest. His own change in breathing woke her up though. He chuckled a bit as she drowsily looked at him through a curtain of long red locks. Gently he used his hands to safely tuck them behind her ear.

"Thanks", she beamed as he finished.

"Anytime".

"What did you say Kyuu-chan?", Naruto asked her as they slowly walked around the village hand in hand, ignoring the stares of the populace.

"I'm saying that we should work on strengthening our mental connection", she said, "if we take a look back at the previous exam in which you participated, communication between the members of any team was extremely important at all times, especially the first exam, besides, think of the possibilities during missions".

"Hmmm, I understand the importance of it, but how do you suggest we train it?"

"Well, I suggest that we learn how to focus certain thoughts or feelings in our mind, to the point where they can be felt by the other. Also, we should do so over a relatively big distance, to negate any errors".

Naruto smiled at her, eager to learn something that might well be considered a new weapon in his arsenal.

"Ah, there it is Itachi", Kisame exclaimed happily. He was glad they'd reached their destination, he hated long walks, "so, how does it feel to see your old village again after five years?"

"I don't feel anything", came the reply, "stay focused on our mission. You know that there was a disturbance, first off we'll find out what it is, and then we'll capture our target".

"Yeah, don't worry, I know what I have to do".

"And Kisame, don't start any trouble, try to be as inconspicuous as possible. We'll infiltrate the village this evening".

Itachi received a nod in reply and moved off to choose a suitable point of entry.

He was still walking around the village wall when suddenly a bright idea entered his mind. He could use chakra to stick to it and simply stroll upwards and into the village. Putting his plan into action, he gathered the necessary chakra in his feet and slowly started to scale the wall.

After spending a bit more time training, Naruto and Kyuubi both moved off to separate places in the village. It felt weird though, being apart from the other, even if it was only about 500 meters. Naruto had positioned himself on a rooftop, leaning back against the ventilation shaft that protruded from the floor. He cleared his mind and began focussing on a name, Kyuu-chan.

Kyuubi on the other hand had moved off to the village wall itself. After scaring off the guards on that particular section with a gentle smile, which seemed unbelievably creepy to them for some reason, she sat down in lotus position. Just as she was about to close her eyes however, a certain person clad in black robes with clouds on them appeared over the edge. Slightly startled, she looked at Uchiha Itachi's appearance, carefully watching his every move, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice.

Itachi on the other hand was having a remarkably similar experience. It only took a swift look as to notice the typical fox trademarks on the body of the woman sitting in front of him. The fact that there were nine of the tails indicated that he was currently standing face to face with the Kyuubi. He quickly calculated his chances of success and moved accordingly. He simply turned around without speaking a single word and moved back down the wall.

Kyuubi was still watching the place where the Akatsuki member had gone down again before she suddenly heard a voice call in her head.

"Kyuu-chan?", Naruto's voice came through clearly. Quickly she focused on a reply.

"Yeah, I'm here Naru-kun", came the answer.

"Well, that was easier than I thought".

"True, but it would be even better if we could do it without having to focus so much, so we'll have to work on that".

"Agreed, so, anything interesting happening over there at the wall".

"I saw Itachi".

"WHAT?? What did he do?", came a yell through the mental connection, causing her to wince because of the volume.

"Keep it down, it hurts when you focus so much on a strong thought like that. And he didn't do anything, he simply walked up the wall, came face to face with me, obviously much to his surprise. He recognised me and moved back down without ever saying or doing anything".

"Still, are you sure? He's a member of Akatsuki remember?"

"Need I tell you who I am Naru-kun? I'm the Kyuubi no Kitsune".

"No you're not", Naruto replied smugly. He'd been given the new version of the village's bingo book earlier that day. Of course he'd leafed through it as soon as possible to take a look at both his own and Kyuubi's information. His heart had jumped when he noticed both their names. They were on the pages next to each other, Namikaze Naruto and Namikaze Kyuubi. She too had been overly happy when he'd shown her and given him a crushing kiss in the middle of the street, completely forgetting the fact that they were standing in front of several hundred villagers. The resulting spike in killing intent coming off the collective male and female population had been immense. From that moment onward, both of them had agreed to keep any show of intimacy confined to more private locations. They'd never underestimate the power of jealousy again.

"You're Namikaze Kyuubi", he sent a mental image of himself grinning widely to her.

"Hmmm, true enough", she smiled.

"Come on Kyuu-chan, let's go home", Naruto sent through to her before he shut down the connection and started moving to their apartment.

Itachi was still shell-shocked when he reached the bottom of the wall. It even took him a moment to realise that there was a certain shark faced man running towards him at full speed.

"Oi, Itachi", he shouted while waving a certain booklet, "You'll never guess what the disturbance is about".

"The Kyuubi's free", he breathed, his reply causing Kisame to skid to a halt, his feet digging a pair of trenches in the soft soil.

"How the hell do you know?"

"I saw her", Itachi replied, leaning back against the wall before he moved again, "let's go Kisame, we need to formulate a new plan".

Kisame simply grimaced at the idea of coming face to face with the nine tailed fox. He silently handed the leaf village bingo book to Itachi, flipping it open on the page with Naruto and Kyuubi's profiles on it.

"I managed to nick that from one of the teams working on repairing one of the training grounds. From what I was able to pick up from their conversations she and the brat have been wrecking havoc all around the village training areas. Not to mention Kyuubi's dramatic entrance where she annihilated virtually any gate or door in her path. Not only that, but it appears she's married or something to Naruto, who is in fact the Yondaime Hokage's son".

Itachi slowly let the information sink in as he looked at the pages. This complicated everything.

"So, are you ready?", Sasuke and Sakura asked team Namikaze, as Naruto and Kyuubi had called themselves. Both of Naruto's former teammates were standing next to the couple. By pulling a few strings and cashing in a few favours Sasuke had been able to get both himself and Sakura appointed as supervising Jounin and would be present at the second and thirds exams where they'd look from the shadows and take care of any trouble that might pop up. As such they were in full combat gear, Sakura was wearing a red blouse, black stretch pants with a pale pink skirt over it. She still wore her leaf headband on her head to keep hair in place as she had done ever since she'd gotten it. Her hands were hidden by black reinforced gloves which gave both Naruto and Kyuubi some ideas as to what kind of battle techniques she used. Sasuke on the other hand had returned to his roots, wearing a dark blue T-shirt with the Uchiha symbol sewn in on its back and loose white pants. The only true difference in his appearance was the sword that was safely tucked between the ropes that circled his waist.

"Ready as we'll ever be Sasuke", Naruto grinned widely. They were standing right in front of the same door they'd gone through on their first Chuunin exam.

"Well let's go then Naru-kun", Kyuubi shouted excitedly, "we're already running a bit late, the room's bound to be filled by now".

Without even wasting a second she had grabbed Naruto's hand and kicked in the double doors, making them fly through the room before embedding them into the opposing wall.

The Chuunin exams had begun.


	5. Chapter 5: Gleefully evil

A/N: A bit shorter than usual this time, but it was either this, or a wait of about half a day, besides, I thought this was a good point to end the chapter anyway. I hope you enjoy this chapter, but remember, any suggestions or remarks are more than welcome. I'm always looking for new ways to improve my writing so feel free to tell me anything that might pop into your head.

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**Chapter 5**

Sasuke and Sakura weren't disappointed when they both looked over the shoulders of team Namikaze. One of the reasons they'd applied for being a Jounin supervisor in the exams was the expected reaction of the other Genin when they saw both Kyuubi and Naruto enter the room for the first part of the exam. The fact that Kyuubi always liked to make an entrance only added to their amusement.

Several nin had been forced to dodge the twin doors flying through the room and had looked angrily at the ones responsible. Glares were sent their way until one of the Konoha nin noticed the trademark orange and crimson outfits of the people standing in the hallway.

"Kyuubi", he whispered, instantly moving backwards. His reaction was mimicked by every single other Genin present. Rumours had already spread around the globe at Hiraishin speeds and thus most of the Genin from the other villages also knew that Kyuubi had become a Leaf shinobi. They hadn't expected her to show up in the Chuunin exams though. The backwards motion continued until everyone had their backs pressed against the wall opposite to the entrance, some had even stuck themselves to the wall or ceiling, just to get as far away as possible from the two new entrants.

"Now this is what I wanted to see", Sasuke smirked as he looked at the terrified Genin. He knew it wasn't really nice to act that way, but he still found it hilarious to see. Sakura however wasn't faring much better and effectively had to suppress a few chuckles. A bright flash immediately followed by a clicking sound drew their attention. In the confusion, Kyuubi had pulled out a camera and snapped a picture.

"For later", she mouthed at Naruto's questioning look. He seemed satisfied by her reply and eagerly looked around the room. Much to his surprise, he recognised a few faces, to be more precise, the Rain Genin team that had participated in his last exam. Well, the parts of their faces that were visible that is. He grinned when they too recognised him and quickly shuffled backwards even further. His expression changed though when he noticed a big black banner hanging in the back of the room.

"Oh bloody hell no", he shouted when he recognised the writing, even if it was unnecessary to even recognise it. There was only one person in the entire village that used big black banners for just about anything, Mitarashi Anko. A cold shiver ran down his spine as he remembered his first run-in with the bloodthirsty Tokubetsu Jounin during his first Chuunin exam.

"Just my luck, to have her as the first examiner", he muttered. It seemed like it was sheer luck that the massive banner said that she'd arrive around two a clock, which was still well over half an hour away. At least it gave him some time to prepare for the inevitable shock. Ignoring the looks of the scared Genin, he plopped himself down on one of the benches, Kyuubi settling down right next to him. It didn't look like there was any need to do an introduction this time.

"I don't see what there's to be afraid of", a voice suddenly cut through the tense atmosphere like a knife through butter, "I mean, sure, the guy looks a bit like that bastard Yellow Flash, but I know his history".

It was an Iwa nin that had jumped forward and had begun strolling casually towards the couple.

"You were an orphan, the container to the Kyuubi no Kitsune. So my guess is that they just had a redheaded girl strolling around, put some tails and ears on her and made her parade like the demon fox, while they let some rumours filter out of the village that the seal had broken to make everyone anxious, especially when the rumours said that the little fox in question had joined up with Konoha. Then they took you, her 'former' container, made the two of you hook up and told everyone that you, a blond dead last orphan at that, was the only surviving son of the Yondaime Hokage. Please, I don't even need to see underneath the underneath to know that Konoha is lying its ass off. Here now missy, let me just remove those lovely tails of your and then you don't need to put up with this charade and this blond dumbass anymore".

The Genin made a move to grab one of Kyuubi's tails, but was intercepted by the back of Naruto's hand. His face contorted in agony as the impact crushed part of his jaw. He let out a pained moan as he sailed back towards his teammates. They moved to catch him, but only succeeded in cushioning his collision with the wall. The three of them sagged down to the floor, two of them unconscious with the third looking terrified at the blonde now standing in front of Kyuubi, exuding a massive aura of killing intent.

"Let me make this clear for all of you", he snarled, "I just saved that guy's life, though he's lucky I've become able to control my temper enough. But just so you know, anyone, and I mean ANYONE that tries to harm Kyuu-chan here will have to go through me first, and I promise you it won't be a pleasant experience".

"He's right you know", Kyuubi grinned as she stood up and moved to Naruto's side, "there's only one man in this world allowed to touch my tails, anyone else that tries will die horribly, or suffer an even worse fate".

The threatening tone in her voice made the Genin shiver in fear. It was painfully clear that the one man she meant was standing right next to her.

"Alright you rascals, that's enough", an awfully familiar voice interrupted them. The rookie Genin looked up in surprise, just before they were scared, again, by something barrelling through the window. Said something being Anko, their first examiner. Her entrance however peeked the Kyuubi's interest and she made a quick mental note to try it herself on a later moment in time. Naruto merely sighed as he witnessed the destruction, ignoring the loud wail coming from a repair crew that just happened to pass by. A second black banner unfurled in front of the first one, this time announcing the arrival of the first examiner, Mitarashi Anko. Her timing however was, as usual, horrible and totally out of context.

"I'm Mitarashi Anko, the first examiner", she shouted through the room, only to come face to face with the current 'seating positions' of the Genin, meaning, two people standing on one end, near the door, while the rest was sticking against the wall and ceiling, or in two cases the floor, on the other end.

Her attention though was quickly drawn towards the couple, mostly because of the amount of killing intent they were radiating towards the other Genin.

"Alright, cut it out you two", she grinned as she quickly recognised Naruto and immediately assumed that the one standing next to him was the Kyuubi. She'd been there when the announcement had been made, but hadn't gotten a decent look at the two of them because of the distance between herself and the Hokage's tower at the moment.

"We don't want to scare off the babies now do we", she smiled, completely surprising Naruto with her behaviour, "and if you're wondering why I'm not trying to cut up your cheek and such, it's because I only do that to torture scared little kids. In fact, I'm rather impressed with that killing intent of yours right now".

"If that's settled, can we get on with the exam then?", Naruto replied smugly, "or should we give them some time to calm down?" He pointed at the rest of the participants in the exam.

"Nah, they need to get some experience with being scared anyway, especially the rookies".

"Alright then", she shouted, "for those of you that know how we do things around here, you know the drill, for those that don't, simply grab a number from the box and sit in the assigned seat, shut up and keep your eyes in front of you".

As soon as the Genin had picked their numbers and sat down in their seats, Anko continued, ignoring the chattering teeth of those unlucky enough to be seated next to either Naruto or Kyuubi. They were making every effort possible to keep as far away from those two as possible, much to Anko's amusement.

"Right, as some of you already know, it's somewhat of a tradition here to make the first test a written exam. The rules are simple, you're given ten points at the beginning, cheating loses you two points every time you're caught. Get zero points and you and your teammates are out. Every question you answer incorrectly, or don't fill in, will lose you a point".

She continued her explanation as she walked around the room, handing out the tests as she went.

"Those of you that want to can leave whenever they wish, just don't expect to come back afterwards".

As she put Naruto's test in front of him, she grinned, "the test has been adjusted a bit because there's only two of you, but that shouldn't be a problem right? The principle is the same".

He looked at the paper lying on the desk. It was almost exactly the same as last year, there were nine questions about various topics, most that were too hard for the average chuunin to answer, but when he looked at the tenth question, he was surprised. As opposed to the previous exam he'd been in, this time there was actually a tenth question. Well, more like a riddle with underneath a big jumble of letters.

"There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first", the riddle said. Naruto was stumped, he never had been good at riddles, thankfully, Kyuubi had quite a bit of experience with them.

"I recognize this riddle", she said to him in his mind, "and the letters underneath it are actually part of a seal".

This comment caused some gears to turn in Naruto's mind. Recalling his previous exam, he noticed that some seals could be split up into several parts. Given the fact that there was a seal right below that particular riddle, it could only mean one thing.

"I think we need to get both parts of the seal together", he replied.

"My thoughts exactly. It's a riddle of ancient times past. The true answer is actually the day and night, but I think that in this situation, most people would interpret it as you did".

"But how will we get them together?", he asked, already breaking his head over that particular problem, "the proctors will surely notice it if we're passing our papers to the other".

He shifted his gaze nervously to the said Chuunin that were sitting to the sides of the room, keeping an ever watchful eye. While he knew that they couldn't pick up his conversation with Kyuubi, it was still nerve-wracking to do it, especially when the kunai had already started flying, pinning the papers of the more unskilled shinobi to the desks.

He and Kyuubi decided to completely ignore the other questions. They knew those were merely superficial tests to see whether someone was skilled at gathering intelligence. The real test was the tenth question, which served a dual purpose. The ability to see underneath the underneath, and how good the Genin were at passing information to their allies.

"Just focus on the seal as hard as you can and try to send an image of it to me, I'll write it down next to the other one. I've got the best handwriting of the two of us anyway".

"Hey, my handwriting is legible".

"Yeah, but that's about it you know. Sealing requires a steady hand and perfect handwriting for it to work".

"Oh fine then", Naruto muttered and started focusing on the seal instead.

While it was hard for Naruto to keep his concentration on his paper, he nevertheless succeeded. Kyuubi quickly had it copied down to her own page, where the words instantly started reacting when the last letter had been written down. With a barely perceptible puff, the seals vanished and in their place came a text.

"Congratulations on passing the first exam. If you go outside, you will meet an examiner that will give you the necessary information for the second exam. Please take this form as proof that you have passed", it said.

"Well Naru-kun, looks like we passed", Kyuubi grinned as she sent a mental picture of the completed seal to Naruto, "you want to do the honors of announcing our exit?"

"Nah, you can do it, I'd probably mess it up anyway".

Carefully, as not to startle anyone, Kyuubi raised her arm.

"What is it Namikaze Kyuubi", Anko grinned, she should've known that the fox would've been the first to pass the exam, proof of this was the exam form that she had subtly hidden in her sleeve. A simple handkerchief with a henge on it made it seems as though she had left her exam paper on the table, face up with some fake answers filled in on some random questions.

"I'd like to leave Mitarashi-san", she announced, eliciting a startled gasp from the rest of the Genin crowd. They couldn't believe it, it was only about ten minutes into the exam and already the most feared team had just given up. This however made some of the more intelligent shinobi start to wonder. The veterans had already started focusing on the tenth question, but had some difficulty figuring it out.

"Well, so much for team Namikaze", Anko sneered, "you can leave if you want to, but don't expect to be allowed back in if you change your mind".

As Kyuubi rose, Naruto mimicked her action. Anko raised an eyebrow in surprise. Naruto had been sitting with his back towards the fox, yet he still had stood up at exactly the same moment. Taking into account that Kyuubi moved as quietly as a Jounin level stealth specialist, that was a remarkable feat. Grimly, she realized that the two of them must've had some way of being in constant communication with the other, yet she hadn't even noticed. She, a Tokubetsu Jounin, had been had by the two of them, and apparently without any trouble at all. Her attention shifted quickly though when she noticed a Konoha nin that was a bit too obvious with using soft taps of his pen to communicate with his teammates. Without wasting any time, she flung a kunai directly at his paper, pinning it firmly to the desk.

"Team 36, you fail", she happily announced, her earlier disappointment already forgotten. So what if she'd been had by the fox and her former container, she still had plenty of little Genin to torture.

"So, you've got anything to say", a Jounin confronted Kyuubi and Naruto as they stepped out of the room where the rest of the Genin were still sweating under the look of the infamous Anko.

"We don't have anything to say", Kyuubi announced, "we do have something to deliver though". She smirked as she pulled out her exam form and handed it to the proctor.

"Hmmm, alright, you've passed the first test, and with setting a new record I might add", the Jounin announced. He did seem a bit disgruntled at that fact but that was quickly suppressed. It wasn't really allowed for a Jounin to show too much emotion while on a mission, and technically, acting as a proctor or supervisor during the Chuunin exams was considered to be a mission, one of high importance too. Most of the time, the ranks assigned to Chuunin exam related missions were B- or even A-rank and thus required a certain level of professionalism to them.

"The second exam starts tomorrow, the details are in here", the Jounin said as he handed them a scroll. Naruto quickly put the scroll safely into one of the pockets sewn into the inside of his jacket before they both quickly thanked the Jounin and moved off to a safe place to take a look at the contents of the scroll.

"So, how did you guys do?", Sakura asked excitedly as she spotted the blonde and redhead walking out of the building right after the doors seemed to fly off their hinges as if propelled by an invisible force.

"I thought you guys had to do supervising?", Naruto wondered, "doesn't that mean that you were watching us?"

"Don't be an idiot Naruto", Sasuke grumbled, "the first exam is extremely low risk. Chances of a fight breaking out are virtually inexistent, and if they would there is still a room filled with Chuunin and one Tokubetsu Jounin to face. Our job only starts with the second exam".

"Well, about that second exam, we passed so I guess we'll be seeing you there tomorrow", Kyuubi grinned at them.

"We'll try to keep out of sight though", Sasuke grinned back in response.

"As I said, we'll see you tomorrow".

After having said goodbye to Naruto's former teammates, the couple moved towards their apartment. Since the next stage of the exam would only take place the next day, they decided to relax until then.

"Hmmm, this brings back memories", Naruto smiled as he opened the scroll moments after he had closed the door behind Kyuubi's back. Knowing what she usually did to any door in her path, he had taken up the habit of opening and closing the door for her, those inside the apartment were open all the time so that problem was solved easily. Excitedly, he read through the rest of the scroll, eager to learn as much as he could about the exam.

"What does Naru-kun?", Kyuubi asked as she positioned herself next to Naruto, trying to read it together with him.

"The second part takes place in Training Area 44, the Forest of Death".

"I can see why you're a bit nostalgic. When do we need to be there?"

"Let me see", Naruto dove back into the scroll, "It says to be there at 9 tomorrow morning, on time. Those that are late are automatically disqualified".

"Well then we should better go to sleep early on don't you agree Naru-kun?", Kyuubi smiled mischievously. One look into her eyes sufficed for Naruto to understand that she was planning something different altogether. Not that he minded though. Ever since he'd come to realize that he loved Kyuubi, they had begun cuddling a bit every night. It wasn't much, mostly limited to some kisses and hugs. Naruto felt it was important to him that they moved slowly. Neither of them had much experience on the topic, Kyuubi had only seen some things, and neither didn't want to make a mistake that would hurt the other. Besides, they had all the time in the world. Being immortal sure had its advantages. They could take an eternity getting to know each other. There was a way for them to die though, but that was impossible for anyone to achieve, for it meant that they would have to kill Naruto and Kyuubi both at the same time, so that they couldn't rely on the presence of the other to come back to life. Given the fact that Kyuubi was an immortal demon, it was effectively impossible for them to die, well, permanently that is.

"So what do we do now Itachi", Kisame muttered as he watched the hologram of their leader disappear. While surprised at hearing the news, he had still ordered them to continue with their mission, only it had changed from 'capture Uzumaki Naruto', to 'Capture Namikaze Naruto and Namikaze Kyuubi'.

"And why do we have to capture the both of them now?"

"Because there might be a connection between the two of them that we do not know about. If we capture them at the same time, it might help us either understand or neutralize it".

"Any idea on how to capture them then?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. From what I've heard, the two of them are participating in the Chuunin exams and have already passed the first exam. The second exam is traditionally held in Training Ground 44, the Forest of Death, though I did hear rumors that they were planning on changing that, but apparently that proposition wasn't accepted for some reason. We'll infiltrate Area 44 and capture the two of them. Security is usually a bit lax and should be easy enough for us to break through".

"You're forgetting that particular training ground is located deep inside Konoha, we'd have get past at least two dozen of Anbu patrols before we'd even get close. So how are we going to get there?"

A smirk that made cold shivers run down Kisame's spine appeared on Itachi's face. Out of nowhere, he pulled out a shovel.

"Start digging", he ordered gleefully.

Naruto's alarm rang for exactly half a second before an angry tail smacked it to bits. Naruto groaned as he raised himself out of bed, a still sleepy Kyuubi trying to pull him back onto bed, in vain.

"Come on Kyuu-chan, time to get up", he gently shook her awake. He knew better than to be as load as the alarm. Kyuubi had a temper, and it was especially short early in the morning. Many an alarm clock had already met their demise when they had to get up early for a meeting with Tsunade or someone else.

"Just five more minutes", she softly muttered as she turned over to her other side and pulled the covers back over her body, trying to conserve the still lingering heat.

"I'll go make us some breakfast then", Naruto smiled down at her. He had been expecting a scenario such as this. For that matter he'd set the clock to go off at seven, two hours before they were expected to be standing at the Forest of Death. Even with Kyuubi's morning habits, it was still plenty of time to prepare themselves and go there, even if they should stop for a while on their way there.

Soon after, some delicious smells found their way into the bedroom. Kyuubi shot upright as she smelled the food being prepared in the kitchen. She got up and started following the trail. At the end, she found Naruto standing in front of the stove, making a few omelets. She moved behind him and enveloped the blonde in a hug, her arms encircling his waist.

"Hey there beautiful", he smiled, keeping one hand on the frying pan's handle while the other moved towards Kyuubi's arms. Gently he squeezed in her hands and turned his head, giving her a soft kiss. "Finally awake?".

"More awake than I was five minutes ago", came the reply. While she was up and about, it was still clear that she was quite tired nevertheless. Her ears were lying almost flat on her head while her tails almost dragged over the floor, the hair on them sticking out in every direction. Naruto chuckled as he took in her appearance. She was looking incredibly cute, as she always did in the mornings. Every single time she had somewhat of a ruffled look on her and he had to stop himself from jumping her and cuddle her to death.

"Kyuu-chan, it's already half past seven you know, you should be a bit more energetic".

"You're simply too damn hyperactive. I'm more like a normal person in comparison".

Naruto frowned a bit, he knew people always said he was the number one unpredictable hyperactive shinobi from the village but he always thought that was because of his happy-go-lucky nature. Her comment made him start to think. Every single powerful shinobi he knew always slept in, Kyuubi did, Tsunade did, heck, she even fell asleep at her desk. Kakashi obviously did because he was always late, and let's not mention Jiraiya, especially after he'd been drinking.

Then again, he wasn't one likely to go and act like others just because they had a strange quirk in their habits. He simply decided that having a lot of energy and being awake so early in the morning could only be advantageous.

"Don't be like that Kyuu-chan, it has its good points".

"True, I've got dinner that's being made for me, so I'll consider that a good point", she grinned as she quickly snatched one of the eggs right out of the pan, deftly flicking it onto her plate. Her own primary element was fire, so she would never get burned. This proved to be quite an advantage whenever she felt like nicking food straight off the stove, which happened quite often actually.

Naruto chuckled as he watched Kyuubi pull the egg out of the pan. The look on her face was absolutely adorable in his opinion. Whenever she did something like that, she had a mischievous expression on her face, much the same like Naruto did whenever he was about to pull a prank, but then a lot cuter.

"Come on then, let's eat", she mumbled with a mouthful of omelet.

Naruto quickly joined her and started eating as well. He smiled again as he saw her waking up more and more with every bite she took. The more food she got in her system, the more energetic she became, though it never got as bad as Naruto's energy levels.

After they finished up their meal and packed their bags, preparing for a several day long survival exercise in the forest, just in case. They took off in the direction of training area 44. When they arrived, they noticed, much to their surprise, that they weren't the first ones there, even though it was only a quarter past eight. There were still a full forty-five minutes to go until the exam started, yet they could already count a grand total of twenty four teams present, themselves not included, and there were still people arriving.

"Ah damn, we should've stayed behind a bit to see how many teams had passed", Naruto muttered as he watched the Genin gather in front of the first gate around the forest.

"There were fifty-two teams that took part in the first exam. The last time you took the exam, there were twenty-six teams that passed out of a total of forty-three. This time there were sixty-two teams, so naturally, the number of teams passing the test would be higher as well".

"Oh well, we'll simply have more targets this way", Naruto sighed as he sat down against a tree, Kyuubi settling between his legs and leaning back against his chest. Without even realizing it, he put his hands around her waist and pulled her closer.

Several hours later, there still was no sign of the examiner for the second task and every Genin was beginning to get agitated. They had been told to be there at nine, yet it was already eleven and there was still no sign of any Jounin or even Chuunin.

"I sure hope that bloody proctor has a damn good excuse when he gets here, otherwise I'm going to kick his ass", one of the more aggressive Iwa nin exclaimed, shaking his fist in anger. His comment however made something click into place in Naruto's mind. It was so obvious now.

In all of Konoha, there was one, and only one, Jounin that was tardy, every single time.

"Yo everyone", an all too familiar voice sounded from a puff of smoke that had suddenly appeared near the gate, "sorry I'm late but I forgot to put out the trash this morning so I had to chase the garbage men across half the village".


	6. Chapter 6: Tardiness, exams, weirdness

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but if you want to blame something, blame school. I never knew an internship could be so tiring. Combined with a good case of writer's block and you get a pretty big wait for a new chapter.

'Neways, for those of you that don't know yet, I've added a tracker thingy to my profile page. I update it every time I write some more on a chapter so if you're curious as to how long you still have to wait for the next chapter, that's the place to look for information.

All in all, I hope you enjoy the new chapter (and I hope that I'll get the next one done a bit sooner)

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"You're late", several of the Genin shouted as the silver-haired Jounin appeared in front of them. Anger was visible on their faces, but they refrained from acting on it, they knew they wouldn't stand a chance against the Jounin, even if they had numbers on their side. That and it would ruin their chances of becoming a Chuunin this exam. So they didn't attack him, even if it would've been utterly satisfying.

While several of the Genin were still muttering, there were four people that had smacked their hands against their foreheads, the other team members of former Team 7 and Kyuubi. While both Sasuke and Sakura had known the identity of the second examiner, they had been forbidden from telling Naruto. Nevertheless, his excuse was as lame as ever, thus provoking such a response from them.

"I can already see where this is going", Naruto groaned with a pained look on his face, Kyuubi mirroring his expression.

"Knowing his repertoire of tests and exercises, there's only one thing he'll be doing for this one", Kyuubi muttered.

"Right", Kakashi began, "welcome to training area 44, better known as the Forest of Death. Normally, we would've been using another training ground, but some odd couple of Genin decided to wreck it only yesterday so we'll have to use this one".

He threw a knowing look towards both Kyuubi and Naruto. Naruto grinned sheepishly and shrugged while Kyuubi had started studying her nails closely. Those Genin that had been in the forest before though glared at the couple. They knew what awaited them in there, and were not happy to go and meet it.

"Today's test", he continued, "will be somewhat comparable to the test from the last few times that the exam was held here in Konoha".

He reached into his pocket and pulled out two bells.

"This time, your target are these bells. Every team will be assigned two bells at the beginning, the goal is to finish with three bells per team. So you'll have to try and steal one from another team. Do note though that one person can only carry one bell and that it has to be visible and able to ring. The only exception to this is Team Namikaze, since they only have two people, they can have a maximum of two bells on one person. Any questions?"

"Sir", one of the Iwa nin asked, "why do they get two bells as well? Shouldn't they be given one or even no bells?"

"And why is that? Is it because they're only with two of them? Is it because they're both Namikaze's? Please, they're Genin just as the rest of you, and you're with one more than they are, shouldn't that be enough of an advantage already?"

While Kakashi said this, his only visible eye narrowed as he stared at the Iwa nin. While it seemed as if he was smiling a bit through his mask, it was clear that the next word the Genin said would be his last. Even if it was long ago that Obito had died, he still didn't exactly like Iwa nin.

Naruto sighed deeply as he watched his former Jounin sensei explain the test.

"It's just one of those days", he muttered.

"Now, as most of you might have figured out already", Kakashi continued after having scared the socks off the Genin, "the battle for the bells will be brutal, and there might be some deaths involved, so if you'd be so kind as to fill in these forms so that I won't be responsible".

Muttering was heard amongst the Genin as they took the forms and filled them in. While they wanted to do the exams, most were irritated by the fact that the tardy silver-haired Jounin couldn't be held responsible for anything that would happen.

As they slowly started handing in their forms, each team was given a pair of bells and guided towards one of the gates around the complex, Naruto and Kyuubi waving briefly towards the tree where they knew Sasuke and Sakura were hiding.

"You'll have to wait here until the exam officially starts", one of the two Chuunin accompanying team Namikaze told them as they arrived at the gate. Noticing Kyuubi's mischievous look he quickly continued.

"The gates will open for you, and any attempt to open them before the test starts will result in immediate disqualification".

Kyuubi huffed at this. She'd been eyeing the entrance in anticipation and had been hard pressed in holding herself back, though a quick semi-glare from Naruto helped with controlling her initial urge to bring down the gate.

"So", Naruto asked her as they waited for the signal that they could begin, "who do you reckon we should go after first?"

"Doesn't really matter", she replied in a bored tone, "let's just take on the first Genin team we encounter"

Naruto took a good look at the ominous forest in front of him, leaving Kyuubi to do whatever she found pleasant at that time. He could still remember the first time they had stood here, as simple little Genin. At the time he didn't have any idea what was waiting for him past those gates, though it was safe to say that what had happened wasn't exactly your standard procedure Chuunin exam. Seriously, there wouldn't be any shinobi left if they all had to fight an S-class missing nin just so they could advance to Chuunin level. But apparently, it happened every now and then. It had happened to the former team 7 and now it was about to happen to some poor Genin team. Too bad for them, but that's just how life was sometimes.

After a few minutes of nervous waiting, the two Chuunin got into position on both sides of the gate, indicating that there was only one minute left before the second phase of the exam started. Almost immediately both Naruto and Kyuubi attached the bells to their outfits, leaving them dangling on their belts.

"So, should we try and set a new record Naru-kun?", Kyuubi grinned mischievously as they both prepared themselves.

"You still need to ask?", he replied with an equally big grin. They'd heard that Gaara had been the one to set the previous record. Needless to say that Naruto was extremely competitive about everything that concerned a record or limit or anything. If he got the chance, he'd always try to beat it and place his own mark in history.

"Ready?", one of the Chuunin shouted, causing the two members of team Namikaze to drop into their stances.

"Go", he shouted, the gates swinging open at exactly the same time.

Naruto and Kyuubi kicked off with everything they had, propelling themselves forward at an almost insane speed as the ground below their feet cracked loudly before shattering almost completely, throwing up a large cloud of dust as a result.

Within moments the two Genin had vanished without a trace, leaving behind two coughing Chuunin.

"You just couldn't resist could you Kyuu-chan", Naruto grinned at her as they raced across the trees.

"Cheh, figures you'd notice my little prank", she smiled back.

"Too bad that I won't be able to see their reactions though", Naruto thought as he directed his attention forward again.

At the gate, the two Chuunin were already moving to close the gate.

"Couldn't they have been a bit calmer when leaving?", one of them muttered as he took in the devastated earth in front of the gate.

"Hey, it can't be helped you know. He'd Konoha's number one hyperactive shinobi remember?"

"True enough"

Both shinobi sighed before each grabbing a part of the gate. Just at that moment, every single part of the gate seemingly fell apart, leaving the two of them standing there with just a handle in their hands.

"What the?", one of them exclaimed as he looked at the mass of metal lying in front of them.

"I don't believe it", the other breathed, "she actually removed every single screw out of the gate as they passed it"

Both of the Chuunin gulped visibly as they shifted their looks towards the Forest of Death, pitying those that confronted team Namikaze.

As it was, it didn't take them long to find a team to steal some bells from. Naruto almost couldn't believe it when he saw some Iwa nin running along the forest floor. They were absolutely the opposite of what a professional shinobi should be.

Loud cracks echoed through the forest as the three-man team sped along, ignoring the flora around them. The leader of the group even ran straight through a few of the massive trees in the forest, bringing them down in the process. It was obvious what their strategy was. The thick rock armour they were wearing protected them while they used their speed and sheer bulk to barrel into anything that was on their path.

While it was undoubtedly effective, their tactic lacked any of the typical subtlety that shinobi usually applied to combat.

"Typical Iwa strategy", Kyuubi sighed, "those guys are completely relying on their armour to keep them safe. They're a disgrace"

Naruto could only agree. Even if he was loudmouthed and hyperactive at times, even he understood the basic principles of shinobi combat. Trickery was an essential part of any battle and these guys were completely ignoring that principle.

"Hey Kyuu-chan, let's go teach these guys a lesson", he grinned before quickly changing direction so that he would eventually get in front of them.

Kyuubi caught on instantly and followed him.

"Tadayoshi, status", the leader of the Iwa Genin shouted at his teammate.

"Still nothing sir", he replied. Since he had the best chakra sense of their group, he had been assigned the duty of trying to find anyone that entered his range. Not that it was really necessary. Most people would come to investigate all the ruckus they were creating. It was something inherent to most shinobi. They didn't have to be afraid though. It would take an A-rank jutsu to penetrate their armour so an ambush would be practically ineffective. After that, they would simply need to shift their course and up their speed, transforming them into a human battering ram. At full speed, they could even plough their way through a village wall, except that of Iwa of course.

"Alright, we'll continue on for another hour", their leader decided, "after that we'll dig in and rest for five hours before we begin again"

"Yes sir", both of his teammates shouted immediately.

Just as their leader shifted his attention forward again, two blurs crashed down into the earth about a hundred meters in front of them.

"Excellent", he thought as he signalled his teammates.

As the dust cleared a bit, he noticed something rather disturbing though. One of the silhouettes he was seeing in the dust had a few more appendages than normal.

Almost instantly he recognized Kyuubi.

"Heads up people, that's team Namikaze", he shouted. He too didn't believe it that Naruto was actually the son of the Yellow Flash and that his teammate was the Kyuubi no Kitsune, but still, he had to admit that they were powerful. They had demonstrated that fact at the beginning of the first test. It didn't matter if the team they had defeated had been one of the weakest Genin squads in Iwa, it took a decent amount of strength to smash someone into a wall like that.

His two teammates quickly moved into formation, creating a wedge with their leader as its tip. As one, they stormed straight at the Namikaze's.

"Can I?", Kyuubi asked as she watched the formation of three juggernauts close in.

"Sure, go ahead", Naruto smiled, "but don't kill them ok?"

"I know, I know. These are just the exams so no need to kill anyone".

As she said this, Kyuubi cracked her knuckles. It had been a while since she had been able to let loose. Suppressing a grin, she held out her hand, pointing it at the three incoming nin.

She simply stood there as the group of Iwa nin collided with her, the collision creating a localised earthquake.

"Hmmm, you guys aren't too bad in terms of strength and attack power", Kyuubi grinned at them.

Meanwhile, the three Iwa nin had stupefied looks on their faces. Their charge had been stopped by Kyuubi, with a single hand.

"So, is that all?", she smiled right before she removed her hand, causing the three nin to fall forward. They'd still been putting on pressure even after they had stopped. Using their momentum to her advantage, she moved below the leader of the group and smashed her elbow right into his stomach, shattering the front armour of all three nin.

What followed was three Genin flying through the air. With a grimace, they all braced for impact as they saw a few trees closing in rather fast. They never reached them though. After having sent the trio flying, Kyuubi had followed right after them.

Their eyes widened as she appeared right in their path. They didn't get much time to be surprised though. In a blur, she executed a roundhouse kick at their backs, blowing away the rest of their armour.

This time, they did crash into some trees.

With a smile, Kyuubi walked towards the trio of fallen nin and picked up a bell.

"Was it fun?", Naruto grinned as he watched Kyuubi move back towards him. He'd been watching her with quite a bit of interest. She simply looked stunning whenever she was fighting, and seeing her fight from a distance was even more enjoyable than watching her fight him during sparring.

"Too easy", she simply replied.

"Well you can't exactly expert every Genin to be at our level remember?"

"True enough", she shrugged, "but what's with that look on your face Naru-kun?"

Naruto blushed, he couldn't help it. Kyuubi was simply so cute when fighting, or when having fun. Most of the time, the two coincided.

"Oh I see", she grinned mischievously, "you were watching me fight weren't you?"

She closed in on Naruto, a smile on her face.

Just as she moved in to kiss him however, the earth nearby started rising upwards, causing both Naruto and Kyuubi to turn their heads in the direction of the disturbance.

Kisame was not having a pleasant time. Sharks lived in water for crying out loud, not under the earth. Still, when Itachi asked, he had no other option than to obey. He knew well enough what his partner could do if you irritated him. And thus, he was left with no other alternative than to dig.

Taking a look at the map of Konoha, he figured that they should be underneath the forest of death by now. Not that he really needed to look at the map though, the massive amount of roots that he needed to dig through had already made it obvious. With a satisfied sigh, he began to dig upwards.

As soon as there was only a thin layer of earth left, he signalled Itachi. They had agreed that he be the first one out of the hole, just in case. His Sharingan gave him a distinct advantage at reacting to any possible ambush.

Naruto let out a low growl as he noticed a certain Uchiha's head coming out of the hole. Kyuubi mimicked his reaction, though for a different reason altogether. She was just irritated because her moment with Naruto had been interrupted.

Itachi's eyes widened as he turned his head in the direction of the growls. Instantly he recognised the situation he was in and decided to act accordingly. There was only one thing he could do when faced with the two Namikaze's while they're having an intimate moment.

"I seem to be interrupting something, my apologies", he said before looking down into the hole, "Kisame, reverse digging direction".

Within second the head had disappeared underground again, leaving two confused Genin standing on the forest floor. All the while faint mutters could be heard coming from underground.

"Ok, that was weird", Naruto stated as he looked suspiciously at the place where the Akatsuki members had gone back underground.

"Not really", Kyuubi replied, "he did something similar when I saw him on the village wall. Now, where were we?"

With a seductive smile on her face, Kyuubi slowly wrapped Naruto in her arms again before kissing him.

"Kakashi-sensei", Sakura shouted as she walked into the proctor room. Since they couldn't exactly interfere with the exam during the second phase, most of the supervisors simply went to the tower located at the centre of the Forest of Death where they could discuss about the Genin taking the exam and generally random stuff, though it wasn't uncommon for the proctors to bet on the different teams. This year though, there wasn't exactly much use for betting. Just about anyone knew that a member from team Namikaze would win the final exam.

"How many times have I told you that it's not sensei anymore, we're equals now remember?", Kakashi sighed as he started reading a certain orange book again.

"I do remember, but it still feel so weird to call you anything but that", Sakura replied, fervently trying to ignore the book in her former teacher's hands. Eventually, even her patience ran out.

"Just so you know sensei, team Namikaze has arrived at the tower"

Kakashi did a double-take at that. He'd been warned by Jiraiya about her and the opinion she had about any perverts she could find. He knew that if he was caught reading a certain bit of literature, he'd suffer some rather painful consequences.

In a flash the small book had vanished seemingly into thin air, and only just in time.

"Kakashi-sensei", Naruto shouted as he barged into the room, Kyuubi following him closely. She eyed his hand, which was still smoking a bit from the amount of friction he had generated when putting the book away at extreme speeds, but she decided to ignore that and simply moved towards Sakura to start up a conversation about the first thing that came to mind.

Meanwhile, Naruto was being his usual hyperactive self. It didn't matter if he had calmed down quite a bit over the years, that didn't mean that he stopped having his moments. He was almost literally bouncing off the walls when he announced to Kakashi that they had beaten Gaara's record by well over half an hour.

"Is it just me or has Naruto not calmed down in the slightest during all those years?", Sakura sighed deeply as she watched her former teammate's antics.

"He has calmed down", Kyuubi grinned, "or rather, he's learned to control his energy a bit better. Though it still gets the best of him sometimes"

"Calm down Naruto", Kakashi tried to calm the overexcited Genin, "we know you beat the record, and we're happy for you. But actually, you're not really allowed to be here"

Naruto froze when hearing those words.

"But why, I mean, you're here and so is Sakura", he protested.

"I know that but this room is only for the supervisors of the Chuunin exam", Kakashi explained, "I believe you've been assigned rooms where you can spend the remaining time of the second part of the exam right? I suggest that you go there and try to get some rest. Don't worry, you'll see us around"

With a pout, Naruto turned around.

"Alright, I'll see you later then Kakashi-sensei, Sakura", he said as he walked out the door, Kyuubi following him after having said goodbye to Sakura.

"You know Kakashi-sensei, that was a bit mean", Sakura turned to the Jounin.

"I'm not denying that, but at the same time it was the best way to get Naruto out of here in a hurry", Kakashi replied, "he could've gotten into some big trouble by simply barging in here. He was lucky actually that we were the only ones here. Had it been another proctor, one that's not so friendly with him, they'd have disqualified him on the spot"

"I see", Sakura sighed as she looked at the door. She understood that sometimes the best way to help someone, was to be somewhat strict with that person. Kakashi had applied that method before, and it worked.

As the second phase of the exam progressed, so did Naruto's impatience. Last time he'd been one of the last to arrive, having spent almost the entire allotted time in the forest. This time, the situation had been reversed and they were forced to spend almost the entire time in the tower. Thus, Naruto had been stuck inside for several days.

Sadly enough, the combination of Naruto, indoor environments and a strict ban on training while at the tower was not exactly the best choice if you wanted some peace and quiet.

"Agh, I'm so bored", he exclaimed as he threw himself onto the bed in his and Kyuubi's room. He'd spent the entire day running around the tower, exploring every single bit of the massive structure and placing a certain object here, rearranging something there and so on.

"You're bored again?", Kyuubi replied in shock as she walked out of the shower, wearing nothing but her nightclothes, "but didn't you place booby-traps all over the tower?"

"Yeah, but I'll have to wait until tomorrow before they go are activated", he growled in disappointment. While he knew that he had to be patient when playing a prank, he still had some difficulty in suppressing the excitement that came with it. The fact that he'd have to wait until the next day when the second phase of the exam would come to an end only served to worsen that. He'd never been forced to wait this long when playing a prank. Still, he couldn't risk being disqualified for that reason, so he had timed them to activate well after the second phase ended. After that they would be free to spend a month as they wanted so that they could prepare for the final phase. During that time, they wouldn't be able to disqualify him.

"Just be patient Naru-kun", she smiled as she watched the object of her affections look at the ceiling.

Noticing that he was currently pondering about something, a mischievous smile spread across her face. Silently, she crouched down onto the ground and sneaked towards the bed.

"Ack", Naruto shouted when he suddenly felt something land on his chest. Without warning, Kyuubi had pounced him while he was lying on the bed.

"You know, Naru-kun", Kyuubi smiled, "you still have me to play with remember?"

Naruto blushed brightly when he noticed how little she was wearing. True, she wore nothing but a T-shirt every single night, but it was still a bit hard to get used to, especially after having closed himself off from any attempts from Jiraiya to get him hooked up with a girl. It had become so bad that he simply detested anything perverted. Of course, given the current relationship he had with Kyuubi, he was having a decidedly odd response to everything she did. Besides the obvious physical attraction that he felt, both because of the seal she'd put on him and his own feelings, there was also the fact that he'd fallen in love with her. Opposed to that was his own mindset that considered everything of that nature to be bad. He'd been working hard on overcoming that ingrained habit, but it was still slow going. Even so, he had to be careful. While he knew that he'd never be attracted to another woman besides Kyuubi, he didn't want to become a lecherous pervert like Ero-Sennin.

Kyuubi however didn't exactly give him much choice. She had slowly started tugging on the hem of his shirt and was now trying to get him to take it off.

He took one look at her eyes and instantly knew where they would end up if this continued. Ignoring the small voice in the back of his mind, he put on the brakes. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close.

"Not yet Kyuu-chan", he whispered in her ear.

Kyuubi didn't reply as she watched Naruto pick her up and place her onto the mattress.

"I'm going to take a shower", he said and walked into adjoining bathroom.

"Looks like he's still struggling", Kyuubi said to herself as she heard Naruto turn on the shower, "looks like I'll have to be a bit more forceful next time. It's that or wait for at least half a year. I'm not going to get anything out of him tonight though"

With a sigh, she laid down onto the bed and closed her eyes. In no time, she had fallen asleep and didn't even wake up when Naruto crawled into the bed, though she did pull him close to her. It was as if she knew whenever he was close to her.

The next morning both of them woke up rather early. The second phase of the exam would end soon and they were expected to be at the assembly in the main arena in the tower.

With a slight grumble, Kyuubi got up. Almost instantly she missed the warmth that came with laying on Naruto's chest.

"Come on Naru-kun", she poked his sides in an attempt to wake him. It didn't happen often that she awoke before he did, but it occurred from time to time.

When he didn't awake from the incessant poking though, she frowned. Usually a simple poke was enough to wake him up but it seemed he'd built up a resistance of sorts. She decided to change tactics.

"Naru-kun", she whispered as she moved back towards him before gently kissing him.

Within moments his eyes had opened at the soft touch of her lips.

"Good morning to you too Kyuu-chan", he murmured, his hands moving towards her hips.

With a smile on her face, Kyuubi jumped up from the bed, evading his attempt at a hug.

"Come on", she grinned, "time to get up. They're expecting up at the arena today remember?"

That phrase seemed to penetrate through Naruto's skull for he jolted upright and started moving through the room at high speeds in an attempt to get on his clothes and have breakfast at the same time.

"Relax", Kyuubi smiled as she watched him hop through the room, "we still have time"

This seemed to calm him down a bit. He looked at the clock and noticed that they had well over half an hour remaining.

"Sheesh, don't scare me like that, I thought we were going to be late", he muttered as he moved towards the bathroom to get a decent shower.

"Congratulations you all on passing the second phase of the Chuunin exam", Tsunade announced at the group of Genin standing before her.

As she continued her speech about the purpose of the third and final exam, Naruto took a close look at the remaining teams. The previous time he'd been here there had been seven teams to pass the second phase. Right now though, there were fifteen times that had passed, team Namikaze not included.

"All in all sixteen teams that passed", Kyuubi thought, "looks like Kakashi's idea of using the bells wasn't that good. Still, it's an obsession of his so I guess it can't be helped. Even so, more than double the amount of teams passed this time compared to the last time we were here"

"Guess it's going to be prelims again", Naruto whispered to Kyuubi.

"No doubt about that", she replied.

"Hey, team Namikaze, shut up there, I'm trying to explain some things", Tsunade's voice suddenly rang through the arena, startling the Genin.

"Sorry", both of them replied at the same time, though the look on their faces indicated something different altogether.

"Ahem", Tsunade continued, "as I was saying. Since we have a bit too many applicants this year"

She shot a dark look at Kakashi, who simply tried to look as innocent as possible, not an easy task when only a single eye is available.

"We'll need to hold some preliminaries. Two names will be randomly selected and displayed on the screen on the wall. Those selected will fight until one of you is either knocked unconscious, killed or when the proctor supervising the fights decides it's over"

"But we just got out of the forest last night", a nin from Ame exclaimed.

"Tough luck mister", Naruto replied before Tsunade even got a chance to say anything, "it was like this the last time I was here. Me and my team had only half an hour to rest up that time, and two of us still managed to pass and go to the third part of the exam, so quit complaining"

"Thank you for clearing that up Naruto", Tsunade grinned at the blonde before moving on, "From now on you all work separately. Anything you do will not influence your team, so if there are any that wish to quit, now is your chance"

Tsunade waited for a few moments but was satisfied to see that no one quit this time, unlike the mess of the year before when the exam had been held in Suna. Apparently half the applicants had quit simply because of Gaara's presence there. During his reign as the Kazekage, he'd built up quite the reputation and as such was feared by just about everyone that wasn't an ally.

"Alright then, display the first two names", she ordered.

The Genin visibly stiffened as names started flickering on and off the screen. When they finally stopped, the reactions were quite varied. The Ame nin from earlier froze in fear while both his teammates placed their hands on his shoulders in an attempt to comfort him.

The rest of the teams however breathed a sigh of relief, while Kyuubi grinned broadly.

The two names on the display were Namikaze Kyuubi Vs. Yoshioka Makoto.


	7. Chapter 7: Victory and, another victory?

A/N: Right, it's been a (little) while, but here it is, a new chapter of Nine-Tailed. I hope you like it, "wink"

If any of you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know. I'll definitely take them into consideration if they could add something to the story (especially jokes would be appreciated. I already have a pretty decent amount, but more is better, don't you agree?)

But now, I shall leave you to reading (oh, and please let me know what you think of the bit at the end ;), first time I really tried something like that )

Enjoy

* * *

**Chapter 7**

"Can I still quit this exam?", the Ame nin asked sheepishly.

"Oh come on you big baby", Kyuubi growled as she grabbed him by his collar and forcibly dragged him towards the arena, "It's not like I'm going to kill you. Heck, I won't even give you any permanent damage so quit whining".

With a final shove, she pushed the nin forward, making sure he was standing in front of her. A raised eyebrow firmly keeping him from bolting out of the ring.

Meanwhile, all the other shinobi had moved onto the walkways on either side of the ring, eager to get a look at the fighting skills of a certain demon fox. The fact that the Ame nin was her opponent only vaguely registered with everyone else but his teammates. They were praying for the safety of their friend. They didn't exactly trust Kyuubi not to kill him, what would you expect from a demon fox.

"Don't you dare lose Kyuu-chan", Naruto shouted as he walked up the stairs, receiving a thumbs-up in response, though it was one quite less blinding as a standard Lee-style thumbs-up.

As he moved onto the walkway, he was quickly joined by Sasuke and Sakura.

"Are you ready?", Kakashi said the moment the last person cleared the arena, "right then, begin"

He jumped back quickly to avoid getting caught in anything Kyuubi might throw at the Ame nin. The fact that he was taking this seriously showed as he pulled up his headband, revealing the Sharingan in the process.

"Instant popcorn no jutsu", Sasuke shouted as he formed a series of seven handseals. Almost instantly a big bucket filled to the brim with popcorn appeared in his hands, much to Naruto's amazement.

"I knew this technique was going to come in handy one day", Sasuke grinned as he took a large handful and started munching happily on the snack he'd just made appear.

"Where the hell did you learn to do that?", Naruto asked as he kept staring at the food in Sasuke's hands.

"Oh, this? I copied it off of Orochimaru when he was watching some of his experiments fight each other. Turns out that he's got quite the collection of useful jutsu. I thought it was handy at the time, besides, it doesn't take any effort to copy something"

"Oi, are you going to discuss jutsu all day Naru-kun or are you actually going to watch my fight?", Kyuubi shouted up at the spectators gallery. Her sensitive ears had picked up the casual conversation and she wasn't exactly pleased that her Naruto wasn't watching.

"Sorry Kyuu-chan", Naruto grinned as he quickly shifted his attention towards the arena, but not before grabbing a big handful out of Sasuke's popcorn bucket, much to the Uchiha's dismay. Even after five years, he still didn't like to share some things with other people.

"Right then", Kyuubi smiled gleefully, "back to business"

In all of his sixteen years of life, never had Yoshioka Makoto felt such fear. Then again, never before had he been in such a situation, for standing right in front of him was the legendary demon fox, Kyuubi no Kitsune. Or rather, Namikaze Kyuubi.

Still, he was a shinobi from Amegakure. He wasn't about to cower in front of an enemy, no matter how fearsome said enemy was.

Besides, he had his honour to defend. He had been sent here as one of the top genin of Amegakure, so he should behave as such. Besides, even if he was faced with the legendary Kyuubi, he knew that she should be severely weakened if she was in human form. There was no way that she still had all her power available to her in such a small state.

With his resolve firmly in place, he began his technique.

"Nami Shindou no Jutsu", he shouted, finishing a series of handseals.

"Smart move", Kyuubi commented as she watched a wall of water of about six feet high spring up in front of the Ame nin and move towards her, "using a water technique against someone that is a fire user"

Quickly she jumped out of the way as the wave came crashing down. Her opponent had already started another technique though.

"Suigadan no jutsu", Makoto exclaimed as he finished his next technique. His general plan of attack was to keep up the pressure until he could find an opening while not giving Kyuubi a chance to attack. He knew that one hit from her would probably mean his defeat.

Kyuubi's eyes widened a bit as she watched the water from the wave launch itself towards her in the shape of small fangs.

"Not bad", she grimaced as the fangs impacted with her body.

"Awwww, come on", Sasuke muttered as both his popcorn and his clothes were thoroughly drenched by resulting spray of water. Though it only took a few handseals for him to dry his clothes and replace the popcorn.

"Orochimaru", he grinned as the rest of the spectators watched him enviously.

Naruto on the other hand was looking intently at the arena. There wasn't any worry in his eyes though. He knew that his fox could easily survive a technique from that level.

"I'll give you an A for effort", Kyuubi smiled as she came falling down, landing softly on the floor. Other than a few small cuts and tears in her clothes, she was perfectly fine.

"Had that been an A rank technique instead of a B rank you actually might've succeeded in scratching me"

Makoto watched as Kyuubi stood there in front of him. Though she was drenched with water, she still exuded a massive aura that would strike fear in almost anyone. He swallowed heavily as he watched her standing there. He'd just used his best combination attack on her and she was just standing there, virtually unharmed.

Naruto on the other hand was having a decidedly different reaction as he watched her. To him, Kyuubi simply looked incredibly sexy as she stood there, her long red hair clinging to her body and her crimson eyes shining because of the water reflecting the light of the lamps overhead.

"Time to finish this I guess", Kyuubi smiled as she stretched a bit before raising her right hand.

"Don't even bother to try Sasuke", Naruto grinned as he noticed that his raven haired friend had his Sharingan activated. Without a doubt he'd copied the Ame nin's earlier techniques, but it looked like he was going to try and copy Kyuubi's as well.

"That's foxfire that she's going to use, something that we humans can't even create a spark of. That and the chakra requirements for it are insane. You wouldn't even have a chance of using it because of that reason alone", he continued explaining, though he did frown a bit as he watched Kyuubi perform the technique.

Grumbling, Sasuke shut down his Sharingan again and simply stared at the fight.

As Naruto spoke, a small ball or orange fire appeared, hovering less than an inch above Kyuubi's palm.

Yoshioka's eyed widened as he saw Kyuubi's technique. Being a water type shinobi, he knew just about as much as he could about fire and earth types, the ones he was strong and weak against. Normally he shouldn't have any trouble at all in dealing with a mere fireball, but here he was seeing something completely different. It took him less than a second to realise that this fire was anything but normal. Even his biggest wall of water wouldn't save him once she decided to throw that at him. He didn't even need Naruto's explanation that it was foxfire to know that.

"I give up", he said quickly, not wanting to give Kyuubi a chance to begin her attack, not that she was actually doing something at the moment. She was simply standing there, casually throwing the ball of fire up into the air a bit before catching it as it came back down.

"Winner, Namikaze Kyuubi", Kakashi announced as the defeated Ame nin went to stand next to his teammates. While he had been defeated, he was allowed to stay since he hadn't been injured.

Smiling, Kyuubi went up to the spectator's gallery as well, moving to where Naruto was currently grinning widely as he watched her approach.

She did pause for a moment when she passed the Ame nin.

"Don't worry, you're definitely Chuunin material. The next time you come here you'll pass", she said softly so that only he could hear her, before moving away.

Yoshioka stared at her as she walked towards Naruto. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. Besides getting out of a fight with Kyuubi without even getting a single scratch, which was pretty unbelievable by itself, he had just received some comforting words from the demon fox herself. Almost instantly, his brain shut down, the shock of what he had just heard finally getting through to his brain.

Meanwhile, Kyuubi was muttering to herself a bit.

"Damn that was soft of me, Naru-kun must be rubbing off on me", she mused as she approached said shinobi and his friends.

"Awwww, and here I was hoping to see some real action", Sasuke muttered as he made the popcorn vanish into thin air. Since there was little hope of seeing a decent fight now, he figured that there was no need to stuff himself with popcorn, it wasn't fun to eat that stuff when there wasn't something exciting going on. He even thought that it lost most of its taste when eaten casually, and as a Uchiha, he only wanted the best, well, more or less.

"Quit complaining Sasuke", Naruto replied, "if she had thrown that ball of foxfire, she'd have blasted away half the tower. Now I'm pretty sure that we could survive it, but my guess is that anyone below Jounin or Tokubetsu Jounin rank wouldn't"

Sasuke swallowed heavily as he heard this. While he specialised mostly in fire and lightning techniques, he still hadn't been able to do that much damage with that little fire.

"Well, I guess that it would be comparable to your brother's Amaterasu, only stronger", Naruto continued. He'd seen both of the techniques in action, and knew what they could do.

"WHAT?", Sasuke shouted as he heard this, "that's impossible. Amaterasu burns until the target is completely devoid of chakra, there's no fire that could possibly be more powerful"

"Kyuu-chan's foxfire burns for as long as she wants it to burn, and it's a lot more destructive too", Naruto shrugged before turning to Kyuubi to congratulate her on her victory, leaving Sasuke to stand there, mouth hanging wide open.

While Kyuubi had been the first to fight, Naruto's turn didn't come until about three quarters of the participants had finished their preliminary matches. While there had been some rather flashy fights, none could really compare to the one between Gaara and Lee that they'd seen during their first time on the exam.

That combined with the fact that Naruto, Kyuubi, Sasuke and Sakura were more or less used to seeing high level techniques being used with little or no time in between made sure that, when Naruto's turn finally came, both he and Kyuubi were bored out of their minds.

Sure, they hadn't been as strong their first time in the exam, but still, that exam had been a lot more spectacular than this one.

His opponent's name didn't even register with Naruto as he walked down to the arena. He was now extremely bored and anxious to get out of the tower.

"You're going down here Namikaze", his opponent, an Iwa nin, shouted, "I'll make sure that there won't be a second Yellow Flash for Konoha"

Naruto sighed as he readied himself. There was little doubt that now that the word was out, he'd get quite a bit of assassins after him, probably most of them from Iwa, they still hated Yondaime's guts. While this Genin wasn't even a threat, it still annoyed him to know that some people couldn't let go of their hate, even after so many years.

Mere moments after Kakashi had started the match, the Iwa nin was planted halfway into the statue standing at the end of the room. He'd tried to use the same armour as the nin in the forest. This had been his luck though, it had saved him from a rather severe skull fracture. Though, as it was, he still had a concussion from slamming into the wall when his technique hadn't been completed yet.

"Even though I'm the Yondaime's son, I will never be the Yellow Flash. That's my father's title, and I refuse to carry it. If I have a title, it'll be one that I earned by my own strength", Naruto said as he turned around and moved to leave the tower, Kyuubi appearing at his side in a flash of bright fire.

"Oh, and Tsunade-baa-chan, let me know the final matchups okay?", he smiled as he turned around.

Tsunade sighed as she watched the blonde and red haired shinobi leave the arena. She couldn't really keep them here, as they were free to go wherever they liked after passing the exam. Still, she couldn't help but rest her forehead in the palm of her hand when he announced his feelings about his father's title. It was typical of him to do something like that. He'd earned everything he had in his life through his own hard work. To have something as a 'title' given to him simply by being born to someone important was something he detested. According to him, that was the reason the Uchiha had fallen and why there was such an internal strife with the Hyuuga.

"I wonder what your title will be Naruto", Tsunade smiled. She had no idea of what it would be, but she couldn't help taking a few wild guesses.

"Arg that was boring", Naruto shouted in frustration as he walked out of the tower. Normally the finalists would be escorted out of the training area when everyone had finished their matches, but someone like himself and Kyuubi wouldn't need an escort.

"True", Kyuubi agreed wholeheartedly, "but you know, there's no one in the forest right now, and it's a training ground"

Naruto's grin almost reached his ears as he turned around to look at Kyuubi, who was looking at him with an equally wide grin.

Less than a minute later, the entire forest shook with explosions and impacts as the two of them started sparring again.

Almost an hour later, Kakashi and several other Jounin reached the site of their battle, the broken tree stumps and craters a silent reminder of what had happened there earlier.

"What in the world could create this much destruction in such a short amount of time", one of the Jounin mumbled as he examined one particularly badly scorched tree stump.

"Only a few people that I know could do this, and only three of those were here today", Kakashi said softly as he looked around the now open part of the forest. An area of at least fifty meters wide had been completely levelled, with the surrounding woods having taken a severe punishment.

"And of those three, there was one that was with us all the time. So that leaves only two people, both of who happened to leave the tower at exactly the same time"

"Are you saying that this was done by the Naruto and Kyuubi?", the jounin asked, surprise in his voice. While the villagers still hated Kyuubi, the announcement that Naruto was actually Yondaime's son had done much to quell the anger of the adults in the village. That and the fear of Kyuubi retaliating kept them most of them at bay. Still, the couple's official name being Namikaze had created quite a bit of confusion about how they should call them. While the villagers didn't want to call them Namikaze's, to call them something else would possibly be considered as slandering to the Namikaze name. Something that the villagers didn't want either. So most of them settled for using the first names of the two.

While it was a bit hypocritical, it was still an improvement over the insults that Naruto had received earlier in his life.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. Those two are probably the most powerful shinobi in our village right now. I don't think even Tsunade can take them on", Kakashi replied, "come on, let's go. No use in staying here"

Taking one last look at the devastation, the Jounin turned and followed Kakashi as he disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"So, what do you think of the opposition", Naruto asked as he and Kyuubi entered their apartment, casually waving at the landlady who still couldn't really believe that the Yondaime's son and Kyuubi no Kitsune were actually living in her building. Still, she didn't really mind. She had always liked Minato and his wife, and Kyuubi and Naruto were surprisingly similar to them, even to the point where it was almost scary.

"Well, they're just about standard Chuunin level. Not bad compared to the average Genin, but nothing like the nin during the first time"

"Well, you can't exactly call Gaara, Lee, Neji and Sasuke normal right?", Naruto grinned.

"You're forgetting yourself Naru-kun", Kyuubi smiled.

"I'm not that special", he said sheepishly. This however earned him a quick jab on the head from Kyuubi.

"Nothing special? I think you're the only one in this whole village that can take me on while I'm in human form and come out on top, and you call yourself nothing special?", she huffed.

"Fine, then I'm a bit special", he said quickly. He wasn't exactly eager to irritate the redhead now standing right in front of him. Even though Kyuubi was a bit smaller than he was, she could still have a threatening presence, one that clearly indicated that a certain redhead was not to be messed with.

"Good, as long as you understand that it's fine", she smiled before leaning forward and kissing him.

Naruto stiffened as he felt her lips moving lightly on his own, nibbling slightly at his own. He'd been caught completely by surprise, but he recovered quickly enough. He moved his arms around Kyuubi, pulling her close to him. Not wanting to show their landlady the little scene, he quickly kicked the door closed after moving through it without ever breaking the kiss.

When they finally pulled apart after several seconds of spending the time kissing each other, Naruto stared at her with a gentle look in his face. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips slightly parted. He swallowed as he looked up at her eyes, those red pools that almost seemed to draw him in with their unearthly colour. He could feel her heart beating rapidly against his chest, her breathing rapid and shallow. Her eyes seemed to darken a bit as she dragged his mouth back to her, wasting no time at all with deepening the kiss.

Naruto was taken aback by her sudden aggressiveness, the redhead in front of him was clearly extremely excited for some reason.

His worries however faded the moment he felt her tongue parting his lips. He groaned as he dragged one hand through her hair, the other unconsciously cupping her bottom and gently putting some pressure on it.

Kyuubi's eyes flew open the moment she felt Naruto's hand on her butt. She'd been craving for a bit of intimacy. Ever since Naruto had told her that he loved her, she'd been eagerly anticipating the more private moments between the two of them. Naruto however, didn't exactly have that much experience with females, so she was left with no other option than to take the initiative herself.

But while she had planned on spending some quality time with Naruto, she hadn't counted on this. She didn't mind though.

She locked her gaze with Naruto's, staring deeply into his blue eyes. They pulled apart again for a few moments, before his eyes darkened a bit as well and he kissed her again.

"Naru...", she breathed just before his mouth covered hers and she was left no other option than to return the kiss.

Kyuubi was feeling unlike she had ever felt before. While she felt some desire whenever she was with Naruto, this was completely different. She felt as if her body was on fire everywhere he touched her body, she felt herself ache with the need to feel him as closely as possible. Deciding to give in to it, she pulled Naruto even closer until his body was moulded almost perfectly against hers. While one hand went up to grab some of his hair, the other slowly moved under his shirt.

Naruto shivered when he felt Kyuubi's hand slide gently over his bare back. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he should stop, but he ignored it. He felt as if he was on fire, adrenaline coursing through his entire body, his heart pounding in his chest as Kyuubi pulled him even closer, her breasts pressing fully against him while they kissed. Vaguely, Naruto felt that he too was getting more excited as time progressed.

Neither of them really knew when or how they ended up in the bedroom, but they didn't care. Their focus was directed at one person, and one person only. Not a word was spoken between them as they crashed onto the bed, not letting go of each other for even the slightest moment

Even through the haze of her own excitement, Kyuubi still had the reason of mind to stop some of her more basic instincts.

Instead of just ripping off Naruto's shirt, she began tugging on the edge of it, pulling it upwards until it got stuck under his arms.

"Lift your arms Naruto", she whispered in his ear after she broke their kiss for a moment again.

Doing as Kyuubi directed him, Naruto raised his arms, letting go of her just for the time that was needed to pull the shirt over his head.

Right after she'd thrown it away in some corner, he instantly started placing kisses from her mouth, moving slowly downwards from her jaw to her neck. She gasped as she felt Naruto's lips brush over her skin, her own hands moving randomly across his back as her mind started to fall apart from the pleasure and arousal that she was feeling.

Kyuubi moaned as Naruto carefully started moving his own hands under her shirt until he decided to take it off her.

Kyuubi's mind was still being bombarded with pleasure when she felt the rustle of cloth over her skin, immediately followed by a cooler breeze as her shirt joined Naruto's on the ground. Only moments after she felt the coolness of the air, it was replaced by the warmth of the blonde's hands moving gently over her body, causing even more moans to escape from her mouth.

Naruto swallowed heavily as he regained some of his senses. Lying in front of him on the bed was Kyuubi, her shirt removed and her bra the only thing keeping her from being completely topless. While he had seen her naked before, that had always been by chance or some random event. This time however, he had been the one to take off her shirt while they had been kissing. The feeling of desire that he was currently having, the excitement, all of it, was completely new to him. He hesitated, pulling back a bit as his the voice in the back of his head grew a bit stronger.

Kyuubi growled lightly at the lack of stimulation and brusquely yanked Naruto back towards her. She could clearly feel how excited he was, there wasn't much he could do to hide it when he was as close to Kyuubi as they were. While Naruto started kissing and touching her again, it wasn't enough, at least not for her. After a few moment's thought, she grabbed the hand currently roaming across her back, gently guiding it towards her chest.

A shock coursed through her body as his hand made contact with her breast. Even through the fabric of the bra she was wearing, she could still feel the warmth of his hands as they moved. Still holding on to his hand, Kyuubi began guiding it, slowly moving it over from one breast to the other, and back again, constantly changing the path to somewhere he hadn't touched before until she felt him take the initiative. As she let go of his hand, she surrendered her mind to the pleasure she was feeling.

Naruto's breath hitched as he saw Kyuubi put his hand directly onto her breast, moving it around, guiding him. His mind almost stopped working as he felt their softness under his hand, and before long, he had started moving his hand on his own, kissing Kyuubi deeply as he gently started kneading her breasts.

Kyuubi's eyes flew open when suddenly the soft pressure on her breasts disappeared and was replaced by two hands on her back, moving towards the clasp of her bra.

She moved closer to Naruto, turning so he could reach there more easily, and was rewarded by him undoing the clasp the moment his hands reached it.

Before he could completely take it off though, she flipped him onto his back, straddling him. His eyes widened a bit as her bra slowly slid off before it too was thrown onto the ground. He didn't get much time to appreciate the view. Only moments after he'd been pushed onto his back, Kyuubi kissed him again, but this time, she started moving lower and lower, trailing across his chest and stomach, until she had reached his pants.

"Kyuubi", Naruto gasped as she first gently rubbed over the bulge that had formed in his pants before she slipped her hand between his skin and the edge of his boxers and grasped him.

Naruto felt as if he was on cloud nine. Never before in his life had he had such a sensation. Sure, he'd masturbated every now and then, but this was something different altogether.

Kyuubi smiled seductively as she moved back up again, her hand continuing to massage him as she kissed him deeply.

Naruto's brain almost exploded with pleasure as Kyuubi continued her ministrations and he was barely aware of it when they rolled back onto their sides, Kyuubi's hand still deep in his boxers.

Clouded by pleasure, his own hands started moving again even as Kyuubi kissed him deeply, their tongues battling for supremacy.

Kyuubi let out a sudden moan when she suddenly felt one of Naruto's hands slide downwards, his thumb hooking in the hem of her trousers. Without hesitation, she lifted her hips and felt him tug her pants down. An pleasant ache came from deep between her legs as her damp panties were pulled down together with the rest of her clothing. She moaned again as she rolled over onto her back, completely surrendering herself to Naruto as his hand got rid of the clothes and moved back onto her body.

Agonizingly slow, his hand made its way up the inside of her thighs, her pleasure building with every centimetre he advanced.

The shock she felt when it finally reached between her legs was indescribable. She felt a gentle tickle as it moved though her curls before descending onto her.

Their hearts beat in their chests as both of them experienced feelings none of them had ever had before.

Even as Naruto gently moved his hand across her opening, she kept her own hand moving until finally deciding to remove Naruto's pants as well.

Their bodies felt as if they were on fire as they laid on the bed, each gently pleasuring the other, and enjoying every second of it.

Kyuubi couldn't help but shudder when she felt Naruto gently probe around her opening, spreading her folds and stroking her before he slowly inserted his finger.

Her back arched even as all the muscles in her lower body seemed to contract at the same time. Her hands grabbed the sheets of the bed as she felt the pleasure building inside of her as Naruto slowly started thrusting his finger in and out.

Her moans quickly became nothing more than garbled sounds as her hips reflexively started thrusting in time with Naruto.

Meanwhile Naruto was also holding on. He had started focusing completely on Kyuubi in order to keep his mind and pleasure from exploding. Kyuubi's hand though, made that quite difficult as she began moving faster and faster.

Just as he was about to let go, he felt Kyuubi's insides tighten around his finger. Without thinking, he pushed his finger in as far as he could. He let go of the hold on his pleasure just as he heard Kyuubi's scream echo through the room.

Kyuubi smiled as she watched Naruto, their eyes gazing at the other. Both of them exhausted from their earlier activities.

Without another word, she snuggled against his bare chest, falling asleep almost instantly, unaware that Naruto had followed her mere moments after she had closed her eyes.


	8. Chapter 8: Interruptions and Promotions

A/N: Well, first of all, I must say that I'm extremely happy with some of the reviews I've gotten so far. There have been absolutely hilarious responses to this story, so I've tried to fit a few extra jokes in this chapter (Don't know if they're good though ^^)

As for the rest, there isn't really that much to say about this chapter, other than that I've kept the fights short for a reason and that it's quite late at the moment that I'm writing this (and I just wrote the last few bits of the chapter too so my apologies if it isn't all to great but I just wanted to let you guys (and girls) enjoy the new chapter as soon as possible.

'Neways, here ends my rant (is this a rant?) for this chapter

Enjoy

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**Chapter 8**

As Kyuubi woke up, a huge grin formed on her face as she recalled the events from the previous night. While they hadn't really progressed as far as she would've wanted, it was still a massive victory for her. Admitted, it had been mostly unplanned, but most of the time this kind of thing wasn't. At least, that's what she had read in a copy if Icha Icha paradise that she'd subtly nicked from Kakashi's hip pouch. She needed the information just in case something happened, that way she'd actually be able to really do something instead of simply laying there without having a single idea of what to do. Not that you could call Jiraiya's sorry excuse for literature that reliable, but she had to admit that he was right on some points. While she had planned on spending a bit of quality time with Naruto, she hadn't expected that it would go this far. Apparently both she and Naruto had quite the amount of pent up emotions from the second phase of the Chuunin exam, and that one kiss she'd given him when they'd gotten back home had apparently shaken things up a bit, causing all of their emotions to simply spill out in one go.

She blushed as she noticed that she was completely naked, laying next to an equally naked Naruto. Sure, she'd flaunted with her body a few times before, but this was the first time anyone had been this intimate with her. Of course, Naruto was the first person she actually loved so that wasn't exactly surprising.

Taking a look at the clock, she noticed that it already was way past noon. She blushed even more as her stomach grumbled loudly. Taking a quick look, she was glad to see that Naruto hadn't woken up because of the sound. Still, she realised that he would wake up soon, and that he'd be hungry as well. Something she was determined to do something about.

Without waking up Naruto, she slipped out of his loving embrace, put on her clothes and went out.

Naruto woke up as some rather appetising smells made their way into his nose. He groggily sat up in the bed, wondering where his clothes were. Until he too recalled the events from the evening before.

"Oh crap, did I really do that?", he shuddered, "Tsunade-baa-chan is so going to kill me if she ever finds out"

Still, what was done, was done. And at least Kyuubi had looked like she hadn't minded last night. Still, he was on his guard as he moved out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, you never knew when a frying pan would come flying towards you, intent on making a crack in your skull.

What he saw in the kitchen surprised him though. Standing in front of the cooking-range was Kyuubi, her tails waving happily back and forth as she juggled with the pots and pans.

"I never knew you could cook", he said casually as he leaned against the kitchen doorway.

"There's a lot you don't know about me Naru-kun", Kyuubi said in an equally casual tone, never averting her gaze from the food she was preparing, "but I would be happy to let you know everything there is to know about me"

"And I'm looking forward to learning from you", he chuckled as he replied in the formal manner, "what're we having anyway if I may ask?"

"Rabbit", came the reply.

Naruto frowned, "I don't recall having some rabbit in the fridge, where did you get it?"

"Oh, it just wandered by", she replied, deadpan.

"Right", Naruto sighed, "note to self, teach Kyuubi about shops, or at least teach her that she has to use them"

After a rather enjoyable meal, even though it consisted mostly of a rabbit that had been happily hopping around somewhere in Konoha, both of them went out to train. They'd already spent most of the day in bed and at the table, so they needed to catch up with some of their training. Both of them were way too hyperactive and actually had to fight or train every now and then, just to get rid of the excess energy they both had.

During the month they'd gotten to hone their skills for the final exam, both of them had easily fallen back into their rhythm of spending most of their day training, though they did share more and more intimate moments as the month progressed. Still, neither of them had actually given any intention of moving forward. Not that they needed to, they were still fine with cuddling and exploring each other's bodies.

The downside for their return to their normal routine, was that the repair crews were once again being stressed out. Now that the pair had gotten bored of wrecking every single training ground in sight, they'd moved to outside the village. While the repair crews had initially sighed with relief, they soon noticed that they'd cheered too soon. It was true that they didn't have to repair training grounds anymore, but repairing the main gate took at least as much time and effort. Given the fact that Kyuubi and Naruto passed it at least twice a day, they were soon getting desperate again, even petitioning the Hokage for help.

"Are you sure this is going to work Itachi?", Kisame asked as he studied the sketch the Uchiha had put together. He had to admit that it had potential, but still, he wasn't too sure.

"I'm absolutely certain Kisame, but don't worry, you won't have to go into the village", Itachi replied before suddenly pulling out a hammer and a box of nails, "you just have to build it"

Meanwhile, Tsunade sighed as she heard another loud crash, followed by a collective wail from the construction crews. The paperwork for the repairs was gradually piling up as Kyuubi continued her destructive habits. Still, even she didn't have the nerve to tell her on it, no one in the village had, and Naruto wasn't really keen on berating her. For as far as she'd seen, his relationship with the redheaded fox had progressed to a rather advanced stage. She knew they slept together, but also that they hadn't had sex, yet. Still, she knew that it was only a matter of time before that happened.

A brief knock shook her out of her thoughts.

"Come in", she said to the person standing on the other side of the door. She already knew who it was, after all, she was the one that had sent for him. While she somewhat appreciated the training Kyuubi was giving to the repair crews, the village still had to be secure for a possible attack, something that was quite impossible with a broken main gate.

"What is it that you require Hokage-sama", Tenzo said respectfully to Tsunade as he entered the office, closing the door behind him.

"Tenzo, I have an important mission for you, one that is critical for the village's security. To fulfil it, you'll have to work together with some villagers, so from now on you'll be working under the code-name of Yamato"

"I understand Tsunade-sama. What exactly is my mission"

"You're to assist the gate construction crews, they're being overwhelmed by Kyuubi's destructive tendencies"

Yamato frowned at her, not really understanding what she meant.

"You want me to use my Mokuton techniques to suppress the Kyuubi Tsunade-sama? I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that's a bit too much, even for my abilities"

"I'm not asking that Yamato, I'm simply asking that you use your Mokuton to assist the construction crews to repair the gate every time she knocks it down. That is all"

"I understand, Tsunade-sama", Yamato replied before turning. Inside, he was wondering why he'd been called on to perform such a mission. His abilities could be better used, or even better, he could be training for an unexpected attack by either Orochimaru or Akatsuki.

He had no idea what he was getting in to.

"Welcome to the final phase of the Chuunin exams", Tsunade announced as she welcomed both the participating nin and the dignitaries from several countries. While most of the countries that had a nin in the final phase had either kept the jounin sensei of that particular nin or had sent a higher ranking shinobi to review the performance, the sand had again become the exception. Sitting in the Hokage's stand was Gaara, staring at the blonde that was currently standing all the way down in the arena. It had been a long time since he'd seen his first and best friend. But even after all these years, the blonde had changed little. In fact, the only notable difference the Kazekage noticed had been the redheaded fox queen at his side, and even so, that hadn't made the blonde change all that much.

"Since you all must be eagerly anticipating both the fights and the results of the exam, we will begin the final battles right away"

With this, Tsunade sat back down and let Kakashi, who was also refereeing the third and final phase of the exam take over.

"Right, the first two fighters stay here, the rest of you goes up to the waiting area over there", the silver haired Jounin said as he pointed to the small balcony where Naruto had waited the previous time as well.

Naruto and Kyuubi watched with moderate interest as the first few battles erupted and finished again. While there had been a decent showing of techniques and skill, there was nothing that could really compare to what either of them could unleash.

Of course, several of the nin that had already fought had shown that they had the potential of becoming Chuunin, so there wouldn't be only a single person passing like last time. Luckily, both Naruto and Kyuubi had been assigned to a different part of the completion ladder so they wouldn't encounter each other until the finale.

Each of them easily won their matches with a relatively modest show of skill. Saving their energy for the finale. The audience on the other hand had been thoroughly impressed already by their showing, even if the majority of the foreigners were scared more or less shitless by Kyuubi's presence in the exams.

"What do you think of team Namikaze, Kazekage-sama?", Tsunade asked Gaara as Kakashi announced the final match, calling for Kyuubi to come down to the arena. Naruto had fought the previous semi-final and was already present, standing next to Kakashi, eagerly anticipating the coming fight.

"Both of them have already proven that they're worthy of not only the Chuunin title, but also the Jounin title. Still, I'm really curious as to what they're going to show us during this next fight, I've noticed that they're both holding back", Gaara replied. He'd been waiting patiently as his friend fought with the other Chuunin hopefuls, enjoying every moment that he watched the fights. Every punch, every kick, made him think back at the battle he and Naruto had fought out during the previous time Naruto had been in the exam.

That was the first time that someone had actually understood him, had talked to him about the demon that had been sealed inside of him.

As he watched Kyuubi walk towards Naruto and Kakashi, Gaara felt a pang of jealousy. While he was glad that the Sand Demon had been extracted out of his body, he actually was a bit envious of Naruto's relationship with Kyuubi. While he had gained several friends and people that he could trust, he still hadn't experienced anything like love. While he knew that it probably was only a matter of time, he couldn't help but feel left behind a bit.

Even his sister, Temari, had managed to seduce someone. Sure, it concerned the laziest shinobi of Konoha, a certain Nara Shikamaru, but still.

"It's sort of funny", Gaara thought wistfully, "while I beat him at becoming a Kage, he beat me in finding true love. Now I'm wondering which is the biggest victory of the two"

Tsunade watched silently as Gaara slowly sank away in his thoughts. She knew that seeing his old friend again brought up a lot of emotions. Kyuubi's presence had probably only strengthened those feelings. Still, he considered Gaara's current evaluation to be correct. Both Naruto and Kyuubi were more than worthy of the Jounin title. The moment they would be promoted to Chuunin, they'd receive their promotion to status of Jounin, effective immediately.

Unlike the Chuunin rank, the Jounin and Tokubetsu Jounin ranks were not given through results of an exam, but rather by the village Kage when he or she deemed the shinobi in question worthy of being called a Jounin.

They did have one last fight to go though, she realised, and quickly nodded to Kakashi, indicating that he could let the fight begin.

Kakashi sighed as he raised his hand, signalling the two fighters to get ready. He'd been wanting to read the latest edition of Icha Icha paradise, which was currently unaccounted for, but Tsunade had semi-forced him to act as referee for the final phase of the exam, and while he didn't like missing his favourite literature, he liked joining the author of said books in a random crater even less.

Just as he was about to bring down his arm, indicating the beginning of the fight, a loud bang could be heard as a massive cloud of smoke appeared between Kyuubi and Naruto.

Instantly, the silver haired Jounin was in full combat mode. Recalling the last time a disturbance had occurred during the Chuunin exam, he didn't want to take any risks. The lack of subsequent explosions or smoke bombs going off did make him wonder about the true nature of the disturbance though.

As the smoke cleared, the eyebrows of about half the stadium were raised as the object inside of the smoke became visible.

"What the hell is that?", Naruto said as he watched the object.

"I think it's some sort of wooden, thing", Kyuubi said, equally confused, "oi, Kakashi, you have any idea of what this is?"

As a black ops legend, Kakashi had seen many things, but this was not one of them. "I really have no idea Kyuubi-san", he replied as he studied the object, "I think it's a statue of some sort of strange animal, perhaps from deep in the wilderness"

Inside said animal, Itachi was seething. His plan should've been perfect, after all, he'd copied it from some weirdo's from the old times, and anything he copied was don't so perfectly. If it had succeeded in the past, it should succeed in the present.

As he heard people outside of the statue continue making wild guesses about the true identity of his creation, his anger slowly started mounting.

"I think it's a pig or something", Kyuubi said, warily eyeing the statue.

"It's not a pig, it's a weasel, a Trojan Weasel, isn't it obvious?", Itachi shouted as a hatch on the side of the construction, popped open and the head of the Uchiha popped out. (For those that don't realise it, the literal translation of Itachi means Weasel in English, hence the pun)

"Itachi!", Naruto shouted in surprise, immediately dropping into a combat stance, ready to attack.

"Oh for crying out loud, not again Itachi", Kyuubi huffed, "what is it with you Uchiha and disturbing Chuunin exams?"

As she said this, she stomped up to the construction, ignoring Itachi's highly annoyed look.

"Tsunade, pass", she shouted as she grabbed one of the legs of the wooden weasel and threw it towards the Hokage's stand at full force.

Instantly catching on to Kyuubi's plan, Tsunade jolted upright and ran towards the edge of the stand, putting as much chakra as she could into her fist before punching the wooden construction with all her might, releasing the built up chakra at exactly the same moment.

Itachi let out a strangled cry as the Trojan Weasel rocketed into the sky, flying further and further until it was nothing but a dot in the sky.

"I knew it wouldn't work", Kisame sighed as he sat down near the campfire he'd made. It'd take a few days before Itachi got back, so he planned to make the most of it. Damn he loved lazing around.

"I guess that now that Itachi is currently out of the way, we can start the final fight of the Chuunin exams?", Kakashi announced dryly, nodding towards Kyuubi and Naruto. He'd had his share of excitement for today, and he still needed to find one of his more recent Icha Icha books, he just couldn't seem to remember where he had last put it.

Milliseconds after he'd made the announcement, dust flew up from the arena floor as the two fighters clashed.

Kakashi swallowed heavily as he raised his forehead protector, revealing the Sharingan eye. He had a hunch that he'd need its abilities to survive refereeing this particular match.

Naruto was smiling, he knew that he had the advantage in a fight with Kyuubi while she was in her human form. He had the upper hand in speed, strength and chakra capacity. The only thing that she could do to counter it was play it dirty, and use foxfire, a LOT of foxfire.

His eyes widened as he saw her charge up several shots, one on the tip of each of her tails.

"Errr, Kyuu-chan, you do remember that we're in the middle of an arena right? That attack would probably wipe out three quarters of the spectators", he said quickly, trying to gain her attention so that she wouldn't release the attack.

Naruto's hurried voice shook her out of her focus and almost instantly, the foxfire disappeared.

"Sorry Naru-kun, I forgot", she said sheepishly before launching herself into the air and slamming down onto Naruto using her tails. Much to her surprise, the Naruto she'd just hit disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Figures that he'd use Kage Bunshin here", she muttered as she looked around, trying to find out where Naruto was hiding. While she normally just blasted the entire surrounding area with foxfire, she couldn't do that here because of the audience. She growled in irritation as her search turned up nothing.

Just as she was about to charge up another shot of foxfire, though a bit smaller this time, she heard Naruto's voice coming from directly above her.

"Rasen Shuriken", he shouted as he launched two of the wind enhanced Rasengan towards Kyuubi.

"Crap", she cursed as the razor sharp blades closed in on her. Acting on reflexes, she threw herself backwards, trying to get away as Naruto's technique came flying downwards, gouging deep trenches in the earth as they cut through several dozens of meters of rock.

"Gotcha Kyuu-chan", she heard Naruto whisper in her ear right after she had skidded to a halt. He was standing right behind her, a kunai in hand, holding the shinobi dagger against her throat.

"Same here Naru-kun", she smiled as she leaned her head backwards, looking him straight in the eyes.

As she said this, she poked gently into his back with her tails. She'd hardened the hairs on them to razor-sharp blades, which were now pointing directly at his vitals.

"It sure looks like that", he grinned before he leaned in to kiss her.

Kakashi and about half of the stadium blushed as the two Namikaze's shared their rather intimate moment, not even bothering to move even the slightest bit.

"Right, erm", Kakashi said as he coughed rather subtly, trying to get the attention of the two lovebirds, "I declare this match to be a draw"

Seeing that he was simply being ignored, Kakashi sighed and used a Shunshin to leave the arena. His job was over and done with. Tsunade would take care of the rest of the exam, and there was still that case of the missing book.

"Then I hereby declare the final phase of the Chuunin exams to be officially over", Tsunade shouted as she stood up from her seat again. Gaara joining her moments after.

"I would like to ask that all participants gather on the arena floor, and I'll announce the results", she continued, happy to see that Naruto and Kyuubi had finally finished their moment.

As she, Gaara and a few other Jounin discussed for a moment, the rest of the participants made it down to the arena, all the while casting somewhat envious looks at the couple.

While they had stopped kissing, Naruto was still holding Kyuubi, his arms folded around her stomach as he hugged her from behind, Kyuubi returning the gesture with her tails. She'd long since made the hairs soft again and was now using all nine of her tails to hold on to her loved one.

Tsunade smiled a bit as she saw the little scene. Taking a deep breath, she announced the results.

"Those that have passed the Chuunin exams", she began, "are Masuzoe Kazushige from Iwa, Ajibana Eiichi from Kumo, Fujikage Kaorukasuga from Suna, Horigome Kaede also from Suna, Namikaze Naruto from Konoha and Namikaze Kyuubi also from Konoha"

Naruto almost literally exploded with joy as he heard Tsunade announce his name as one of the people that had passed the exam. This was the first step he'd taken on the road to becoming the next Hokage.

"And I also have another announcement to make", Tsunade continued, interrupting Naruto's happy-go-lucky mode-switch.

He looked at her strangely. For as far as he knew, the only thing Tsunade had to say was the result of the exam, and that was it. For her to suddenly continue making announcements was somewhat strange.

"It has also been decided, that both Namikaze Kyuubi and Namikaze Naruto are hereby given the title of Jounin. Their abilities have been under supervision for the duration of the entire exam by a team of our most talented shinobi and they have come to the conclusion that the Namikaze's are exceptional shinobi, and thus worthy of their promotion".

Tsunade smiled as she watched Naruto's expression go from confused, to disbelieving, to downright exhilarated. He'd always been rather easy to read for her, and probably most other people as well, but it still felt good to see his joy rise more and more as he slowly understood more and more of exactly what she had said.

"WOOOHOOOO", he shouted as he jumped into the air with joy. Not only had he made Chuunin, both himself and Kyuubi had been promoted to Jounin on the spot. Something like that was almost unheard of, yet here it was, happening to the two of them.

He spontaneously started dancing around a bit, dragging a flustered Kyuubi along with him, even while the rest of the stadium couldn't help but chuckle at the bonus spectacle they were seeing. It wasn't every day that you got to see a flustered Queen of Demons.

As the initial joy wore off, Naruto looked up at the Hokage's stand, and only now noticed the lone figure standing besides Tsunade.

"Gaara", he whispered as he abruptly stopped moving, his eyes fixed on his friend.

Kyuubi, following Naruto's gaze, stopped moving as well as she recognised the former host of Shukaku.

"Come on, let's go meet him", she whispered in Naruto's ear, gently tugging on his arm.

Without a word, he followed her onto the stairs that led to the Hokage's stand, his official Jounin promotion and Gaara.

In a way, it was one of the most important stairs he'd ever taken in his life.

Meanwhile, in Iwagakure.

"Sir, I've received a report from our contacts that the defences of Konoha have been crippled, again", an Iwa nin said in an excited voice against his superior. He'd only just been promoted to his current rank as communications officer. While he'd been a Chuunin for some time now, he'd constantly been occupied with rather tiring patrol missions near the border with Fire Country. While at first he'd been excited, he soon came to realise that those were the worst type of missions. Konoha nin rarely crossed over the border, and when they did, they usually had permission given to them by higher command. Border skirmishes were extremely few and far between. In his opinion, all those missions did was waste manpower.

He'd been overjoyed when he had received his transfer notice. While his current assignment was boring as well at times, it still lacked the tiring physical aspect. That and every now and then an exciting report came in, just like it had today.

"Bah", his superior, a Tokubetsu Jounin, grumbled as he read the report, "Figures their defences would fail again. Theirs are nothing compared to the walls of our fortress"

As he said this, the nin turned towards the wall, one of many surrounding Iwagakure. If there was one thing Iwa nin excelled in, it was defending. They'd perfected it until it had become almost a delicate art. Their rock hard defences were renowned for their power and inability to be broken through by all but the most powerful opponents.

"Sir, the report also confirms that the rumours we've heard about the Yellow Flash's son and his supposed relationship with Kyuubi no Kitsune are true though", the man continued. While the news of Konoha's defences being broken was great, the second bit was a bit more disconcerting.

"I say let them come", the Jounin continued, "if they want to start a war, they'll have one, but first they'll have to break through our walls, something that has never happened before in Iwagakure's history"

Just as the Jounin finished talking, a strangled cry filled the air, causing both the two nin and several other people to look up at the source.

"Jesus Christ", both nin exclaimed at the same time as they saw what remained of a certain Trojan Weasel come crashing down into the outer wall, causing a whole section of it to collapse.

"Err, what just happened", Itachi asked himself as he stumbled out of the wreckage, holding his head in his hands. Looking up, he came face to face with a horde of rather irritated Iwa nin.

"Hmm, nothing good I guess", he muttered before turning around and running away from Iwagakure at full speed, leaving his pursuers in the dust.


	9. Chapter 9: Friends and enemies alike

A/N: Lots shorter than usual, I know. But here seemed to be the perfect place to stop this chapter.

Enjoy

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**Chapter 9**

Naruto couldn't help but grin as he entered the Hokage's stand at the topmost level of the Chuunin exam arena.

Two meters away from him, stood his long time friend, the trademark gourd sitting next to his chair.

"It's been a long time Naruto", Gaara spoke first, breaking the silence.

"That it has Gaara", Naruto replied. Meanwhile, Kyuubi stood right behind him, watching the two friends greet each other.

"Well then", Tsunade interrupted them, "since Naruto and Kyuubi have finally made it up here, I guess it's time to make their promotions official"

She signalled one of the Chuunin guarding the stand, who quickly made a few seals, causing two customised Jounin jackets to appear on the floor in front of Tsunade.

Naruto's eyes widened as he saw the vest laying in front of them. He'd been expecting some sort of standard vest, but nothing like this. The jacket was clearly made to suit his own clothing style. Most of it was black, with a few orange streaks running over the entire length of it. Smiling, he picked it up, eager to study it from every possible angle. His breath hitched in his throat as he turned it around, bringing a detailed symbol into view.

Meanwhile, Kyuubi had also picked up her own vest, which was the same design as Naruto's, but with a deep crimson instead of the orange lining the vest.

Noticing Naruto's change in demeanour, she looked at his vest. Turning her own vest around, she noticed that she had the same symbol embroidered into the back of her vest.

Tsunade smiled as she saw the reactions on both the new Jounin's faces. It had been exactly what she'd been hoping for.

"I hope you like the new Namikaze Clan symbol I've had a friend design", she smiled at the two of them.

Naruto and Kyuubi were still staring at the sign. Naruto virtually at the brink of tears. All this time he'd wanted only a single other thing besides being Hokage, to have his own clan. While he had known for a while now that he was in fact a member of a clan, only by seeing the symbol that would now represent his himself and his clan, did that knowledge really get through to him.

Kyuubi was the first to reply to Tsunade's question.

"It's beautiful", she whispered, still staring at the symbol. It was clear that the artist had taken into account both hers and Naruto's origins and backgrounds. In the centre was the original spiral that had once been Naruto's own logo. Around the orange spiral however, were nine crimson tails, encircling the entire symbol. It wasn't in an oppressive matter though. The nine tails almost seemed to come alive, intent to protect the spiral in the middle from anything that would threaten it.

"Who made this Tsunade-baa-chan?", Naruto asked. He wanted to personally thank the artist for his work.

"You better as that question to the Kazekage over there", she smiled broadly.

Naruto's head turned towards Gaara, a somewhat confused look on his face.

"It was my brother, Kankuro, that designed it. The clothiers here in Konoha sewed it onto the jackets", Gaara explained as Naruto's jaw slowly fell open.

"You mean your brother made this?"

"Yes, though I did suggest the idea of giving you a clan symbol to him, he did the rest himself. He's actually quite skilled with drawing. He has to be though, putting all that paint all over his face every morning", Gaara continued, snickering a bit when he came to the part of his bigger brother putting on make-up every morning.

He was however completely caught unaware when he was suddenly enveloped in a crushing hug, courtesy of Naruto. While it had been a few years since he'd lost Shukaku, and thus the protection of the sand shield, there were still very few people that dared to touch him. The only exceptions were his siblings, and a few trusted shinobi that he'd befriended during his reign as the Kazekage. But even they never tried anything without making absolutely sure that Gaara knew their intentions. Being spontaneously hugged like he was now, was something completely unknown to him.

He soon recovered though, and returned the friendly hug to his best friend.

Kyuubi shared a knowing smile with Tsunade as both females watched the exchange between the former Jinchuuriki.

After that, a formal ceremony signalled the end of the Chuunin exam. Tsunade and Gaara, with Kyuubi and Naruto right behind them, moved down towards the arena floor, where the graduates, along with their instructors, were standing.

Both the Kages shook the new chuunin's hands, congratulating them on their achievements and handed them their vests, provided by the same Chuunin that had made both Naruto and Kyuubi's jackets appear.

"So, what do you want us to do now that we're Jounin Tsunade-baa-chan?", Naruto asked in his usually jovial tone as they walked out of the arena.

"Stop by my office in a few days Naruto", Tsunade replied, "and we'll see about that assignment of yours".

"Wooohoo", Naruto shouted before pulling Kyuubi into a hug, obviously startling the fox demoness, noticeable by the sudden and violent sways here tails were making.

She didn't get the chance to say anything though. In a sudden swirl of leaves, he'd used a shunshin to transport both of them to Ichiraku's.

Tsunade just stood there and watched, somewhat ignoring Gaara's raised eyebrow. He didn't need an explanation though. He of all people knew that Naruto was a spur of the moment kind of person. Or at least, he was most of the time.

"So what'll it be for my favourite customer and his lady", Ichiraku asked as the couple appeared in front of his shop. Being a long time supplier of ramen to shinobi, he was used to the rather peculiar quirks they had. Like for instance, using a shunshin to appear in just about every place.

"The usual", Naruto grinned as he sat down, motioning to Kyuubi to do the same.

"And for the lady?", Ichiraku asked, not even blinking at the fact that Kyuubi was visiting his store once again.

"Just a bowl of miso ramen for me please", she asked, ignoring some of the more skittish customers.

"Coming right up", Teuchi said, before frowning a bit as he spotted the jackets the young couple was wearing.

"Say Naruto, what's with the jackets? I know the Chuunin exams were today, but those aren't the standard issue vests"

Hearing this, the rest of the customers, or at least those that hadn't seen the Chuunin finals, looked up, curious as to what had happened now. Knowing the two shinobi, they weren't exactly surprised to find out that yet again, they'd done something completely unexpected.

"Oh these?", Naruto grinned broadly, "Tsunade-baa-chan saw it fit for us to be promoted to Jounin straight after we'd made Chuunin. That's why she gave us these jackets, to celebrate the occasion".

A loud 'EEEHHHH???' echoed along the seats of the small ramen stands the moment Naruto finished his explanation.

"Oh is that so eh Naruto?", Teuchi chuckled, "well then this is on the house, as a present to you becoming one of the elite shinobi that protect my business, in more ways than one I might add"

It was late that night when Naruto and Kyuubi finally decided to go home. They'd spent the rest of the day at Ichiraku's, talking with both Teuchi and Ayame, and several of their friends that 'just so happened to pass by'. Afterwards, they'd moved on to one of the more popular bars, or at least, popular with the general shinobi populace. Normal villagers wouldn't last a minute in there, not with all the kunai, shuriken, broken bottles and anything else that wasn't bolted to the floor flying around with disturbing regularity.

Alcohol had flowed freely amongst the former rookie twelve, resulting in some rather hilarious situations. Hinata, who'd been depressed about losing her chance of being together with Naruto, apparently had a vicious streak when drunk. While the sight of a beautiful, though depressed clan heir sitting at the bar, getting drunk was most certainly appealing to many of the patrons, it took all possible flirters only one example of what exactly she could do to a man's family jewels with a well aimed jyuuken strike for the rest to get the message and stay well away from her. The example even had Kiba and Akamaru whine softly in compassion for the man.

"Man, did you see how Hinata gave that guy a piece of her mind?", Naruto snickered as he and Kyuubi headed back to their apartment.

"Oh I did, and I must admit, I've never thought that Jyuuken could be that handy, if only I could've done that in my time", she smiled ruefully as she clung to Naruto's arm. While both of them had several drinks, she obviously had a much lower tolerance for it. Not only was her build a lot lighter than Naruto's, but she also hadn't gone on a training trip with a chronic alcoholic, well, at least not in person.

"You had a lot of suitors then?", Naruto asked curiously. There wasn't exactly much he knew about her, as such, a chance to learn more was always appreciated.

"Are you kidding me? I had to beat them off of me with a tree, forget the damn stick", she muttered darkly.

"Well, I can't say I blame them"

Kyuubi eyed him carefully at this, not knowing what to expect next.

"I am wondering though", Naruto continued, "why me?"

Kyuubi sighed.

"Didn't we go over this already?", she scoffed as she used her tails to lightly smack him in the back of the head, "I'm not going to have this discussion with you again. Now let's go home and get some rest"

Naruto smiled, even as the redhead at his side pulled him along, causing him to stumble a bit.

The next few days passed in somewhat of a blur. After the initial thrill of having been promoted to Jounin wore off, both he and Kyuubi calmly settled back into their regular rhythm, which usually consisted of messing up training grounds and the occasional gate. Though they did have a rather weird situation once when they encountered Lee in one of their sparring sessions.

Over the years the spandex clad shinobi had improved his taijutsu skills even more, up to the point where his bingo book listing gave the warning never to cross fists with the man, since doing so promised considerable pain.

"YOSH!!", Lee shouted as he watched the couple arrive at the training area, "it is good to see you keeping up with your training Naruto-san, Kyuubi-san. The spirit of youth blazes inside you. As such, I must do the same"

Immediately afterwards, Lee began building up a massive amount of chakra.

"First gate, OPEN", came the usual shout as he released the mental inhibitor in his brain, enabling him to use his lotus technique.

The shout however, had a rather predictable effect on the red haired fox standing besides Naruto. She'd been bored at first, but the moment her hearing picked up on the word gate, she snapped to attention.

"Gate? Where, where?", she asked as she looked around, not really realising what was happening.

Naruto sighed at redhead's actions. She really was incorrigible about some things. What at first had seemed like a genuine joke, had quickly turned into somewhat of an obsession, though she did refrain from kicking down any doors in their apartment. Something he was very grateful for. Thought it might also be the fact they left most of them open and that he was acting like a gentleman, opening any closed ones in front of her.

A few days after that particular 'incident', Naruto and Kyuubi were headed towards the Hokage tower to get their first mission as Jounin.

"We're here as you requested baa-chan", Naruto cheered as he walked into the Hokage's office, ignoring the door that was now sticking halfway through the opposite wall, courtesy of Kyuubi.

Suppressing her anger for later use on more deserving, and slightly easier targets, Tsunade gestured for both the shinobi to sit down.

"As you might've heard, Akatsuki has been moving around a bit lately", she began, her words causing Naruto and Kyuubi to frown.

"In fact, they appear to have captured all the bijuu, except for you Kyuubi", Tsunade continued in a grave tone.

"However, I believe that the two of you together will be impossible to capture if you're careful enough. For this reason, I'll be sending you out into the world, to hunt down all the members of Akatsuki before they have time to organize and come in force, because if they do, then even you probably won't stand much of a chance"

"Just the two of us?", Naruto asked incredulously.

"Yes, just the two of you", she replied, "I won't lie to you Naruto. Both you and Kyuubi are the strongest people in our village. In fact, you've just about got your hands on the Hokage position the minute I retire"

"However", she continued , "you would still be at risk from Akatsuki even if you were the Hokage, even more so because it'll most likely prevent you from leaving the village. You'll need to strike while you still have your freedom, so to speak"

Tsunade grimaced a bit as the said the last phrase. She knew all too well the downsides of being the Hokage.

"When do we leave?", came the response from both Naruto and Kyuubi simultaneously.

"As soon as possible, though I suggest you get some rest and head out tomorrow morning", Tsunade said, handing Naruto a folder. "In there you'll find every scrap of intelligence we've been able to gather on the different Akatsuki members, including their most recent whereabouts.

Naruto casually handed the folder to Kyuubi, who instantly started leafing through it. He did wonder why she suddenly had a massive smirk on her face though.

"Well then, I guess that concludes your briefing. The guards at the gates have been informed of your departure, and everything else has been settled. I suggest you pack for a long trip"

Saluting the Hokage after getting up, both Naruto and Kyuubi used a shunshin to quickly move to their apartment and pack up some stuff.

"Are you sure about this?", a voice asked from behind Tsunade.

The blonde Hokage didn't react, except perhaps for letting herself fall back into the chair.

"Don't tell me that you actually disagree with my reasoning Jiraiya. Not you of all people."

"It's not that I disagree", he replied, "It's just that I didn't expect you to actually give the two of them a mission like this. Especially given the fact that both of them will be out of the village for several months, and considering their relationship, you know what might happen"

He finished the last part of his response with a rather satisfied grin, though that was quickly replaced by a look of fear as he saw Tsunade's fist sailing through the air, aimed squarely at his face. At that point in time, there was nothing left to do but brace himself for the impact and wait for the inevitable.

Meanwhile, somewhere outside of the village, Itachi had finally finished his latest way to enter the village.

"Are you really sure about this Itachi?", Kisame asked, looking curiously at the strange contraption that was standing in front of him.

"Of course I am, I designed it myself. It will work", Itachi said as he sat down inside what looked like a rather large bowl that was attached to the device, "now go and pull that lever".

"Fine, but don't blame me if it doesn't work out Itachi", Kisame sighed as he walked over to the catapult and pulled on the lever.

As the lever was pulled, all the tension that had been on the catapult's arm was suddenly released in a single instant, causing the arm, with Itachi on the end, to flash along its arc.

Kisame sighed again as he watched Itachi sail towards the village in a graceful arc. He had no doubt that this plan would fail, as all of the others had.

Sitting back down at the fire, he made himself comfortable, he knew it'd take Itachi a while to get back.

Itachi smiled broadly as he saw the village walls pass underneath him. His plan had worked perfectly so far. His mood changed though, when he saw another object in the skies of Konoha, this one coming straight at him.

With a resounding thud, the two collided, though the speed with which the second object was moving caused it to pull Itachi along with it.

He was still wondering what it was that had been flying in Konoha airspace, when he took a closer look and saw that the object was in fact Jiraiya, which was currently eyeing the missing nin.

Deciding to breach the uncomfortable silence that was hanging between the two of them, Itachi started up a conversation, since it appeared that they would be stuck there for at least a little while.

"Did you happen to make Kyuubi mad?", he asked curiously.

Jiraiya looked strangely at Itachi, before shaking his head and replying, "Are you insane? She'd castrate me"

"Then who?"

"Tsunade"

"I see, you are insane"

"Better to get slugged by Tsunade though, she even has a special jutsu for it, see , here it is"

Just as Jiraiya stopped talking, a chibi Shizune appeared right next to the two shinobi flying through the air.

"Thank you for flying with Tsunade airlines, I hope you have a painful landing. Good day", the chibi said before poofing out of existence, causing the two nin to look at each other, despair written over their faces.

Meanwhile, in Iwa.

"Sir, we've finished the repairs on the gate. I'm pleased to say that our defences have been restored to their previous level, and they've even been improved on", an Iwa nin reported to his superior.

"Excellent, I shall inform the Tsuchikage at on...", the Jounin began, but was interrupted when two men came falling out of the sky, crashing right into the newly repaired section of the wall, tearing it down in the process.

"Oh for the love of..."


End file.
